Drama-rama-ding-dong

The Dublin Theatre Festival is 45 years old this year and celebrating with an irresistible run of plays.

One of the most fascinating shows is The Mysteries (Gaiety Theatre). This production promises a night of music based on traditional African folk songs, and a script that employs the rich, lingual diversity of modern day South Africa. Presenting the history of the world, from the mystery of God’s creation to the resurrection of Christ in theatrical form, it utilises a 45-strong cast. Miss it at your peril.

The same could be said of Marina Carr’s Ariel, the Abbey’s primary contribution to the Festival. It too has a theological tilt, as it tells the story of Fermoy Fitzgerald, a Midlands TD, haunted by the ghosts of his past and prepared to sacrifice his wife and children in pursuit of political power. “On the day of his daughter Ariel’s 16th birthday, he makes a terrifying bargain with God”, we are told. Intriguing.

The far-more-familiar tale of “the beautiful Sive” being sacrificed – in the sense that she is promised to an old man in marriage – is the theme of the late John B. Keane’s renowned, Sive, (Olympia Theatre). Relative newcomer Ruth Bradley plays the title role with great sensitivity and insight.

Meanwhile the Gate Theatre is giving Ardal O’ Hanlon the chance to make his stage acting debut in Ronald Harwood’s adaptation of the Francis Verber play, Le Dîner De Cons – restyled as See You Next Tuesday. Also appearing alongside O’ Hanlon is Ristéard Coooper, who co-writes and performs in RTE’s Après Match.

Less hilarious than savage, one suspects, is Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. For those who missed the movie of the same name, it’s an “elegy to a kind of manhood made obsolete by economic Darwinism” and is set in a run-down real estate office.

Closing Time (Tivoli Theatre), is a Royal National Theatre production of a play by Owen McCafferty. Set in a bar, it illustrates the emotional fragility of the cast of drinkers. The cast includes Jim Norton, Lalor Roddy and Kieran Ahern.

One Helluva A Life (also at the Tivoli) focuses on the final, alcohol-fuelled days of actor John Barrymore – played in this production by Tom Conti. The play is set on the stage of a rundown theatre, as Barrymore realises his drinking has finally caught up with him. Through a shroud of booze and memories, he tries to recapture his Richard III.

Whatever is “an American Odyssey in eight acts” written and performed by Heather Woodbury. The play caused a sensation when performed at this year’s Galway Arts festival and involves Woodbury creating her eight-part odyssey, performed over four nights, spanning the 20th century and criss-crossing the United States. Whatever follows ten main characters as they intersect with 90 others and their lives and stories converge. The work has already been compared with Ulysses! These shows are only part of what’s on offer and a glance at the festival programme is sure to reward the theatre-goer.