The Hunt for Red Willie

Ken Bourke's new play for the National Theatre is a light-hearted seasonal frolic concerned mostly with making fun of theatre…

Ken Bourke's new play for the National Theatre is a light-hearted seasonal frolic concerned mostly with making fun of theatre itself.

In satirical mode, its target is old-time melodrama with a story of how the wicked Captain Leblanc is ravishing the Donegal countryside. He is lusting after the beautiful Bessy McMullen, whose father he is to kill (or, rather, to get the hapless Sergeant Tanner to kill). He blames the murder on the mysterious Red Willie, whom he and the Sergeant are supposed to be pursuing.

Even as Bessy's father is despatched, her godfather - the ageing but supposedly dashing Buck Jones - arrives to stay in the great house with Bessy and her faithful maid, Sally. Up the hill is old Woody McHugh, the publican, with his handsome son, Fardy, who carries a large black bag which once belonged to Buck. And there is Q Pat [The Ram] Doherty, beautiful Moya Long John and pretty Kathleen Big Brian O'Donnell and the mysterious Father Gobbett, each of whom bears a striking resemblance to Buck and the Captain and the Sergeant and Bessy and Sally and Buck again.

The snag is that the jokes become increasingly self-conscious as the evening wears on: even Jamie Vartan's smart setting and Donatella Barbieri's good costumes get in on the act. Mark Lambert's energetic and inventive direction never quite manages to thread them seamlessly into the action.

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But hats off (frequently) to the five inexhaustible actors: Clive Geraghty, David Pearse, Tina Kellegher, Sean Rocks and Dawn Bradfield put in a hard night's work, to generally excellent effect.

Continues until January 13th. To book, phone: (01) 8787222.