The Crow’s Way review: A thoughtful, playful interrogation of what it means to break with tradition

The Crow’s Way

Peacock stage, Abbey Theatre

★★★☆☆

What happens when we dismember our rituals, when we break with tradition? The Crow’s Way, staged by Moonfish Theatre, is a thoughtful and playful interrogation of what it means to uphold and discard the ties that supposedly bind.

Written with a young-adult audience in its sights, it’s set in the aptly named magical-realist village of Ballyfeen, or Baile Fíon (Wild Town), and the forest where locals have held crows aloft as symbols of protection and of fear.

Best friends Gerda and Cuán ready themselves for this annual ceremony, but Cuán is a disrupter who forces Gerda and their fellow villagers to question the constants and, in so doing, reveal fresh perspectives on how they live.

[ Dublin Fringe Festival: full coverage ]

Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle’s Cuán is a joyous, sinuous mover who plays naturally against Seoirsín Bashford’s Gerda, though Gerda is lumbered with leaden dialogue that settles too often for statements of the obvious. Cuán’s exasperated mother, played by Christie Kandiwa, bounces off the younger leads with an impressive vigour, and Lian Bell’s gorgeously simple set design grounds the sometimes frantic storyline effortlessly. Lighting and music interweave with graceful ease, punctuating, underscoring and revealing key moments.

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At times the performance edges into slapstick that jars with the complexity of the ideas of belonging, identity, continuity and change that are being explored. Still, it’s a timely meditation on how we move on from rituals that no longer serve us.

Continues at the Abbey Theatre, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, until Saturday, September 23rd