THE IRISH TIMES review of The Bystander, Dublin Theatre Festival 2018
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IRISH TIMES review of Man At The Door (Number 54), Cork Midsummer Festival 2018
IRISH TIMES review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018
IRISH INDEPENDENT review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018
EXEUNT MAGAZINE review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018
THE ARTS REVIEW review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018
THE BIG LIST NI review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017
THE IRISH TIMES review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017
THE ARTS REVIEW review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017
EXEUNT MAGAZINE review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017
THE SCOTSMAN review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016
THE STAGE review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016
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EXAMINER.COM review of Walking Pale, 2016
THE IRISH TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2015
THE IRISH TIMES review of It Folds, 2015
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EXEUNT MAZAZINE review of The Falling Song, 2014
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THE IRISH TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
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THE IRISH TIMES feature on junk ensemble and Dusk Ahead, 2013
IRISH EXAMINER review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
THE IRISH TIMES review of The Falling Song, 2012
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RACHEL DONNELLY review of The Falling Song, 2012
TOTALLY DUBLIN review of Bird with boy, 2012
THE SUNDAY TIMES review of Bird with boy, 2011
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THE VIEW on RTE TELEVISION review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010
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THE SCOTSMAN
IT FOLDS AT SUMMERHALL, EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2016
**** FOUR STARS
SALLY STOTT
19 August 2016
“Can you see me?” a man dressed as a ghost asks. “Yes,” the audience eventually replies, unsure of what to expect from this strange figure. He tells us that he used to be an altar boy; he was in charge of ringing the bells at a church where people “go through the motions” of Mass. Later, we discover that he’s been murdered. A piñata hangs overhead; a young girl comforts a woman who repeats song lyrics with the same monotone voice as she does passages from the bible; a headless man sits motionless on a bench. Superficially this might seem like a piece of absurdist theatre, but it soon becomes clear there is something tangible underneath: the story of a family struggling to cope in the aftermath of their son’s abduction.
Scenes gradually connect: a young girl is the boy’s sister; the pantomime horse piñata is from the birthday he missed and the man and woman, his parents, broken by the insufferable trauma they have undergone. Spliced into the surreal imagery is a play about the times when words aren’t enough – and so instead music and movement often take their place. And as the relevance behind the unopened present, the patches of freshly dug earth and the tumbling bodies becomes clear, there’s a shift from something strange and intriguing to extremely sad.
When the piñata is finally torn apart, so are the boy’s family. Never has a child eating a slice of birthday cake seemed so tragic as, behind him, a choir of ghosts sing ‘Happy Birthday’ as if they are performing at his funeral. Melancholic but beautiful, strange but full of hope, this collaboration between the Irish companies Brokentalkers and Junk Ensemble proves that innovative, experimental theatre needn’t come without an emotional punch.
THE SCOTSMAN review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016