All stories by Helen Meany on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Irish theatre on the rise: jail confessions and the fight for women's rights by Helen Meany

At the Dublin theatre festival, Shakespeare is reunited with his son, Sebastian Barry's prisoners look back, Ibsen's Nora lands in a dystopian future and Anu Productions deliver an urgent ta…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 28, 2017

The Second Violinist review " Enda Walsh's fairytale opera is dark but dazzles by Helen Meany

Black Box, GalwayPlaywright Walsh and composer Donnacha Dennehy's exhilarating blend of opera, theatre and film is a study in heartbreak with a hint of Bluebeard's CastlePlaywright Enda Wals…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:06AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

The Ladykillers review " all-female crooks hijack Ealing caper by Helen Meany

Lyric, BelfastCasting women as the criminal gang heightens the artifice and adds a poignant twist to Graham Linehan's adaptation of the classic film comedyCasting women in the roles of the f…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AM[SHARE]
Friday, April 14, 2017

Red review " vivid portrait of Rothko's brushes with comedy by Helen Meany

Lyric, BelfastPatrick O'Kane embraces both the humour and humanity of the troubled abstract expressionist in John Logan's award-winning playHumour is not readily associated with the abstract…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:48AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The Same review " Enda Walsh's psychodrama thrills in old Cork prison by Helen Meany

Old Cork prison, CorkTwo women meet in a psychiatric institution and realise they are the same person in a riveting, superbly realised productionFor the 25th anniversary of Corcadorca theatr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 19, 2017

Danse, Morob review " intense, mythic quest for a missing father by Helen Meany

Project Arts Centre, DublinThis tale of a daughter and her dead father, a former Maze prison hunger striker, is strong on symbolism and has an incantatory performance by Olwen FouéréA daug…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM[SHARE]
Monday, December 19, 2016

Anna Karenina review " Lisa Dwan gives uncertain dazzle to Tolstoy by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, Dublin Marina Carr and Wayne Jordan's distillation of the 800-page behemoth conjures impressive set-pieces but wobbles on individual characterisationsIt is not hard to see why…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Hedda Gabler review " Ibsen's drama is frozen in time by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinAnnabelle Comyn's staging of this drama of marital suffocation is so cool and controlled that it becomes almost inertIn Mark O'Rowe's new version of Ibsen's 1890 drama, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 24, 2016

Three Sisters review " uneasy Troubles overshadow family woes by Helen Meany

Lyric theatre, Belfast Lucy Caldwell freights her well-observed Chekhov adaptation with the tensions of 1990s Belfast, adding to the siblings' sense of stifled isolation "We can't stand it …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:21AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Stacey Gregg: restless writer whose scripts fizz with tricky questions by Helen Meany

Her plays have explored porn, technology and life in her childhood home of Belfast. Stacey Gregg talks about tackling 'gender fraud' with the award-winning Scorch and interweaving tales of I…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:39AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 19, 2016

Saint Joan review " Shaw's heroine battles against office politics by Helen Meany

Lyric theatre, BelfastLisa Dwyer Hogg's crop-haired Joan is an unshakeable believer raging within a corporate world in this updated version of George Bernard Shaw's playGeorge Bernard Shaw h…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:40AM[SHARE]
Friday, July 1, 2016

The Wake review " response to hidden Irish histories is fuelled by fury by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinAmong three sharp leads, Aisling O'Sullivan is riveting as an Irishwoman learning disturbing truths about her home town in this revival of Tom Murphy's 1998 playFrom hig…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:43AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Town Is Dead review " Mother Courage fights for survival in Dublin by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinPhillip McMahon and Raymond Scannell's 'play within music' is a sometimes awkward yet always impassioned story about a working-class woman's strugglesPlaywright Phillip McMahon …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:14AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 6, 2016

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing five-star review " a courageously feminist production by Helen Meany

Samuel Beckett theatre, DublinEimear McBride's award-winning novel transitions perfectly to the stage in Corn Exchange's startling and upsetting Dublin theatre festival show about the impact…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:15AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 17, 2016

The Plough and the Stars review " wartime drama enters defamiliarised zone by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinIn this refreshed, high-energy restaging, Sean O'Casey's 1926 classic of political theatre still has insistent questions to ask about social justice Inclusion of Sean O'Casey's …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:40AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 14, 2016

After Miss Julie review " a hint of Pinter in Marber's Strindberg by Helen Meany

Project Arts Centre, DublinThere's venom and sexual frankness in this reworking, but little sense of why Northern Ireland should be the location Related: Patrick Marber interview: 'Your hear…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:52AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 18, 2016

Cyprus Avenue review " complex study of sectarian paranoia by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinStephen Rea is riveting as a troubled Ulster loyalist whose hatred of 'the Fenians' drives him to breakdown in this compelling Irish playThe therapist in David Ireland's latest …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:46AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 14, 2016

You Never Can Tell review " Shaw's bumpy farce as relevant as ever by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinGeorge Bernard Shaw's early work rehearses trenchant social commentary about marriage and parenthood, and shows that compromise is no easy matterGeorge Bernard Shaw the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:58AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 20, 2015

Through a Glass Darkly review " graceful vision lacks metaphysical heft by Helen Meany

Project, DublinThis stage version of Ingmar Bergman's film about a woman on the brink of madness swaps mystical intensity for dysfunctional family dynamicsIngmar Bergman referred to his film…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:40AM[SHARE]
Monday, November 9, 2015

Irish theatre abounds with brilliant women " unlike the Abbey's programme by Helen Meany

The Abbey will commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising with work by nine men and one woman. But its incoming co-directors should champion a very different model of national theat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:43PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 23, 2015

By the Bog of Cats review " spirit of Medea haunts the Irish wilds by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinBlending Greek myth and Irish folklore, Marina Carr's bleak, surreal drama is undermined by too much shouting and a lack of pityA dead black swan, a blind seer, a visitor from t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:52AM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 2, 2015

Happy Days: international Beckett festival review " exquisite Britten; comical, otherworldly drama by Helen Meany

Enniskillen, Co FermanaghMoving immersive performances of Britten's Phaedra and Beckett's All That Fall, along with his otherworldly Ohio Impromptu, starred in this year's lineupA woman is m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:39PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 20, 2015

Luck Just Kissed You Hello review " a blistering exploration of masculinity by Helen Meany

Mick Lally theatre, GalwayPlaywright and actor Amy Conroy gives herself the best lines as a transgender man, in a work full of intense deathbed confrontations and family truth-telling A sex-…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:46AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 22, 2015

The Shadow of a Gunman review " reinvigorates O'Casey's tragicomedy by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinWayne Jordan strips back Seán O'Casey's drama, set during the Irish war of independence, to deliver an impressive meditation on violence and reality that feels tellingly mode…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:21AM[SHARE]
Friday, June 19, 2015

Krapp's Last Tape " review by Helen Meany

Ardhowen, EnniskillenWhite-faced, open-mouthed, and spattered with shards of white light, Robert Wilson's Krapp might already have passed over to the other side. His performance, in his own …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:15PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Hedda Gabler review " Ibsen's drama is frozen in time by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinAnnabelle Comyn's staging of this drama of marital suffocation is so cool and controlled that it becomes almost inert Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 20, 2015

Lally the Scut review " ferocious agitprop comedy by Helen Meany

The Mac, BelfastIn smalltown Northern Ireland, politicians, the media and the church all pursue self-serving agendas after a small boy is trapped in a bog hole Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:15AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A Midsummer Night's Dream review " Bard's comedy moves into a care home by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinTheseus is a doctor and Puck's potion is administered by drip in an inventive production that strikes a fine balance between comedy and pathos Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:56AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Everything Between Us " daughters of murdered Ulster loyalist reunite with explosive results by Helen Meany

Project arts centre, DublinWhen two sisters meet after an 11-year silence in David Ireland's play, the racist rants that ensue push at the limits of stage performance Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Walworth Farce review " Brendan Gleeson and sons are infectiously funny by Helen Meany

Olympia, DublinThe comedy is broad and the timing wild in Brendan, Domhnall and Brian's performance of Enda Walsh's play, but the ending loses its power to disturb Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:40AM[SHARE]
Monday, January 5, 2015

She Stoops to Conquer review " panto performers drown out a class act by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinConall Morrison's histrionic musical production treats Oliver Goldsmith's subtle social comedy with too heavy a hand Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:40AM[SHARE]

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