Articles and Reviews
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THE IRISH TIMES review of The Bystander, Dublin Theatre Festival 2018

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THE REVIEWS HUB review of The Bystander, Dublin Theatre Festival 2018

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THE ARTS REVIEW 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

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IRISH TIMES review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018

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IRISH INDEPENDENT review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018

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EXEUNT MAGAZINE review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018

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THE ARTS REVIEW review of Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018

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THE BIG LIST NI review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017

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THE IRISH TIMES review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017

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THE ARTS REVIEW review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017

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EXEUNT MAGAZINE review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017

THE REVIEWS HUB review of Soldier Still, Dublin Fringe Festival 2017

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THE SCOTSMAN review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016

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THE STAGE review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016

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THE HERALD review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016

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EXAMINER.COM review of Walking Pale, 2016

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THE IRISH TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2015

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THE IRISH TIMES review of It Folds, 2015

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THE STATE OF THE ARTS review of It Folds, 2015

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BROADWAY WORLD review of It Folds, 2015

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LE COOL review of It Folds, 2015

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THE NEW YORK TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2015

TANZ MAGAZIN review of The Falling Song, 2014

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EXEUNT MAZAZINE review of The Falling Song, 2014

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THE PUBLIC REVIEWS review of The Falling Song, 2014

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THE STAGE review of The Falling Song, 2014

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THE IRISH TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2013

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THE SUNDAY TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2013

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EXAMINER.COM review of Dusk Ahead, 2013

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IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Dusk Ahead, 2013

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IRISH INDEPENDENT review of Dusk Ahead, 2013

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THE IRISH TIMES feature on junk ensemble and Dusk Ahead, 2013

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IRISH EXAMINER review of Dusk Ahead, 2013

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THE IRISH TIMES review of The Falling Song, 2012

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IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of The Falling Song, 2012

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RACHEL DONNELLY review of The Falling Song, 2012

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TOTALLY DUBLIN review of Bird with boy, 2012

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THE SUNDAY TIMES review of Bird with boy, 2011

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IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Bird with boy, 2011

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THE IRISH 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 IRISH TIMES review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010

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IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010

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THE IRISH INDEPENDENT review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010

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IRISH HERALD review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010

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DANCE EUROPE review of Drinking Dust, 2009

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THE IRISH TIMES review of Drinking Dust, 2008

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THE METRO review of Drinking Dust, 2008

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IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Drinking Dust, 2008

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THE IRISH TIMES review of The Rain Party, 2007

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THE IRISH INDEPENDENT review of The Rain Party, 2007

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THE METRO review of The Rain Party, 2007

TOTALLY DUBLIN
'Bird with boy' at Dublin Theatre Festival
October 8 2012

Rachel Donnelly

Clattering over a forgotten and darkened cobbled street on a bicycle is one of the more intriguing ways to arrive at a theatre festival performance. In keeping with their flair for theatrical innovation, junk ensemble's latest rendition of Bird with Boy (winner of the award for Best Production in last year's Fringe), has been re-located from its original home in the dungeons of Kilmainham jail to a crumbling Georgian mansion on Henrietta Street.

This is a corner of the city where dear, dirty Dublin still lives and breathes. Stepping inside the building, which dates from the 1700s, a sense of time is muffled by the admixture of contemporary elements against a historical backdrop. The audience are seated in two groups on long wooden benches lining each side of the entrance hall. A leg appears over the bannister from the first floor, signalling the beginning of a dextrous, close-proximity duet from Eddie Kay and Justine Cooper that moves through the hallway, causing audience members to tuck their feet in under the benches for fear of tripping up the performers.

From this tightly- executed opening, characterised by choreography that recalls ghostly stop-motion in its syncopated sequence of gliding movements, the performance migrates through the faded rooms of the house, all bathed in candlelight, two audience-groups witnessing the same scenes in a different sequence.

The scale of the piece and the complexity of its structure are impressive, with live musical accompaniment from musicians Tom Lane and Brian O'Connell and a cast of nine creating a series of simultaneous vignettes stretching over an hour-long performance. Featuring established Dublin-based dancers Liv O'Donoghue, Kay, and Cooper, along with six young boys from Company B, there is an affecting mix of the accomplished and the unconsciously gauche in this piece that highlights the theme of frailty at its centre. In particular, a scene with O'Donoghue balancing young performer Tom Kellegher on her shoulders as he fumbles to gather her hair in feathered clips is sweetly touching.

The performance is shaped by the nature of the building, the audience entering parts of the house to behold filmic scenes that give the impression of already being in progress. In one room, a small boy (Kellegher) sits atop a stepladder, the three adult dancers tethered by strings to his hands, acting the role of a miniature puppet master; in another, O’Donoghue and Cooper grapple with suppressed violence in a blizzard of beanbag pellets while the audience looks on in white earmuffs.

At times, the audience enters a room first, switching roles from the discoverers to the discovered as the performers follow afterwards. This cycle of interlocking scenes played out in tandem in different parts of the house creates the feeling of having stumbled in on a cyclical narrative being played out endlessly.

Footage of old films, loose pages from dismembered books, and signs of secrecy (a key hidden in the hollowed-out interior of a book) contribute to an overall sense of a buried story trying to out itself. However, despite the lines of some intrigue being drawn, it is never fully clear what the narrative is. Some scenes feel slightly truncated, the audience being summoned to leave the room on an abrupt note. Nevertheless, this is a minor criticism of a piece that is admirably ambitious in its scale and structure and imaginative in its use of space and theatrics. This spirit of experimentation and unabashed theatricality is junk ensemble's strength as a company, and is a characteristic that marks them out as vibrant contributors to the contemporary dance scene in Dublin.

TOTALLY DUBLIN review of Bird with boy, 2012