THE IRISH TIMES review of The Bystander, Dublin Theatre Festival 2018
THE REVIEWS HUB review of The Bystander, Dublin Theatre Festival 2018
THE ARTS REVIEW review of The Bystander, Dublin Theatre Festival 2018
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
THE HERALD review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016
EXAMINER.COM review of Walking Pale, 2016
THE IRISH TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2015
THE IRISH TIMES review of It Folds, 2015
THE STATE OF THE ARTS review of It Folds, 2015
BROADWAY WORLD review of It Folds, 2015
LE COOL review of It Folds, 2015
THE NEW YORK TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2015
EXEUNT MAZAZINE review of The Falling Song, 2014
THE PUBLIC REVIEWS review of The Falling Song, 2014
THE STAGE review of The Falling Song, 2014
THE IRISH TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
THE SUNDAY TIMES review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
EXAMINER.COM review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
IRISH INDEPENDENT review of Dusk Ahead, 2013
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
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of The Falling Song, 2012
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
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Bird with boy, 2011
THE IRISH TIMES review of Bird with boy, 2011
THE VIEW on RTE TELEVISION review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010
THE IRISH TIMES review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010
THE IRISH INDEPENDENT review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010
IRISH HERALD review of Five Ways to Drown, 2010
DANCE EUROPE review of Drinking Dust, 2009
THE IRISH TIMES review of Drinking Dust, 2008
THE METRO review of Drinking Dust, 2008
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE review of Drinking Dust, 2008
THE IRISH TIMES review of The Rain Party, 2007
THE IRISH INDEPENDENT review of The Rain Party, 2007
THE METRO review of The Rain Party, 2007
THE HERALD SCOTLAND
IT FOLDS REVIEW AT SUMMERHALL, EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2014
**** FOUR STARS
MARY BRENNAN
18 August 2016
In the same way as grief dislocates sense and shifts the world out of kilter, so It Folds presents like a jigsaw where some pieces have got lost, and those remaining don’t seem to be from the same picture. There’s a white-sheeted ghost, supposedly of a dead boy – but it’s a man’s voice entertaining us with roguish recollections of winding up the local priest by introducing dramatic pauses between phases of the Mass. Do the dead grow old in the afterlife? The lad himself is also on-stage, snuggling into the hugging arms of his murderous abductor – does that mean he died happy? A rackety psychic-for-hire garbles out whatever fiction she thinks will comfort the emotionally gutted parents. The publicity, the prurience, the ongoing police enquiries into their son’s disappearance have left them feeling they’re part of a grotesque circus, but they’re reacting differently – inside their pantomime horse costume, they soon pull apart. The harmony has gone out of their hearts and home. It’s left to the chorus of ghosts to bring proceedings back in tune – are there really birthday parties in the hereafter?
You’ll have gathered that the fragments of sorrow, comedy and mayhem soldered together by theatre company Brokentalkers and dance company Junk Ensemble (Irish entities, both) do not provide a linear narrative. Best, therefore, to emulate the old dears who, robbed of speech – by a stroke, maybe? – try to regain joined-up thinking by attempting word association games with a brisk attendant. Can puzzles haunt and trouble you? This riddle-me-ree is knotty enough to do just that.
THE HERALD review of It Folds, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016