Two Shows in One Day

I managed to book tickets to two different shows today. The first was a one-man show entitled Allergic to Beckett. It was almost a one-joke show. It did not help that the venue faces onto one of the busiest shopping areas in Dublin and that this was the second (and last) performance of the day (and the run). There were a few good moments and then there were moments during which I wanted my life back. I appreciated that this piece of theater existed, but I didn't want to be there anymore.

The other piece was Oedipus Loves You by Pan Pan, a Dublin theatre group known for innovative and experimental productions. (Incidentally, the actress who played Antigone was also in Breakfast on Pluto, as was an actor from The Bonefire by Rough Magic, another Dublin theatre company.) This production was an intelligent and almost overwhelming multi-media production featuring original songs by a local band (Gordon is a Mime). The cast was Tiresias, Oedipus, Jocasta, Creon, and Antigone. They all performed in a band together. There was a screen mounted at center stage that showed the red-satin-clad marital bed the entire time, whether or not someone was in it. They used those plain white plastic masks at a key moment. Tiresias is referred to early on as a psychotherapist and eventually leads the group in a family therapy session. (The actor playing Tiresias was one of the demons in the staged reading of Don Murphy by Tom McIntyre, an adaptation of Don Quixote set in Ireland.)

I bought the soundtrack and am interested to hear how it stands on its own. Some of my companions did not enjoy the show. When I said that I enjoyed it quite a lot, the response was a baffled, "Why?" to which I responded with an assessment of their use of layers, the choice to not stage one version of the Oedipus family trilogy, but to do an intelligent synthesis of all the Oedipus discourse, to challenge and to reify the original plays/characters. Some of the choices were witty, some callous, some superficial. Ultimately, though, it all layered together in a bold and deliberate piece of theatre. They even surprised me with a moment in which I could only think of the reconciliation process between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was grave, irreverent, and jubilant. And it had a great beat.