Theatre - Over and Out

I went to see this last night in the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. It was also reviewed last night on The View (I haven't seen it yet, I recorded it to watch later). In my view it was an excellent piece of comedy writing, with a strong moral, and some excellent characterisation. I don't think I've laughed so much in a long time (or cried as I tried to hold in laughter at a description of gay porn, while sitting beside the girlfriends parents). It's a play about human nature, loneliness, prejudice and society at it's heart and what could have been a play filled with generic stereotypes, works hard to show the good and bad within all of it's protagonists (my only gripe would be that maybe it tries too hard in places). The acting was top class from all involved, oddly enough no female characters, the interaction between them felt believable throughout.

Just to outline the story a bit, it's a day in the life of three lads working security in a shopping center. They all have their own personal issues and they come to the fore through the day in the canteen/locker room. Everything about the play had quality written all over it, from the acting to the sets. It's in the Civic in Tallaght until Saturday, then moves on to Dun Laoighre (I think) and onto a nationwide tour. I'd say it'll be tweaked a little as it goes and I wouldn't be surprised to see it get a run in one of the major theaters at the end of it's tour. I'd recommend going along for a play that will make you laugh, and certainly make you think.

Oddly enough I had watched the film "This is England" the night before, which deals with similar themes, in a very different way, it's fair to say I'm a bit more disillusioned with human nature today. :(

Sounds good I'll keep an eye out for it in Draoicht, It's been a couple of years since I've seen a really good play (went to see Ross O'Carroll Kelly before xmas but that wasn't great)

The official blurb can be read here. There was a small crowd last night, with a variety of people and judging by the reaction it had something for everyone. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what they had to say about it on The View, I know they can be a bit pretentious (OK a lot pretentious), but I'd still like to hear their opinions. I can see where it might be attacked, maybe too much swearing, maybe tries too hard to give everyone a fatal flaw, maybe too contrived, or maybe just very good. Personally I'd take the latter, I think the writing was good enough to avoid the pitfalls. Author is a guy called Robert Massey.

The panel on The View basically dismissed it along the lines that "the commoners all thought it was hilarious but we're above that kind of thing, and sure people aren't really like that at all".

I think they totally missed the point, maybe spent too much time in their intellectual ivory towers. They criticised the lack of a resolution, while I feel epiphanies and realising fully the error of their ways would have rung so false as to have ruined the play. Yes the author fails to make it clear if we should laugh at the characters or with them, that's kind of the point, if we find their homophobia and xenophobia funny, are we not just as bad as them? The play doesn't preach to us, it displays characters that the "commoners" will all be familiar with, it shows their prejudice and disillusionment and asks us to draw our own conclusions.