Underneath written and performed by Pat Kinevane – Produced by Fishamble – Review by Frank L.

Pat Kinevane has two previous one man plays, Forgotten (2006) and Silent (2011) which have toured Ireland and internationally. They are now joined by a third Underneath which premiered in December of last year in Limerick and now joins its predecessors on tour.

Underneath begins in the dark with some eerie sounds intensifying the darkness as slowly, very slowly a sarcophagus like block, at a slight angle, emerges from the Stygian gloom. Gradually from behind the sombre block a limb, a dark limb, can be discerned which is attached to a body and the entire comes into view as the amount of light increases but the place remains eerie. Then the body emits a statement often heard in everyday chat, the tension is broken and the audience laughs. Kinevane has begun to unearth the underneath, the hidden part of a life, which he seeks to traverse and reveal. He will use humour and the mundane as part of his tools to do so.

He moves splendidly in his multi-layered black costume with a small patch of gold at the back peeking through. His face has a gold sheen: the blackness of his costume is his entire exterior but the gold is his skin which contains his “underneath”. It is what is hidden underneath… the nugget with which he is concerned.

Apart from the sombre sarcophagus there hangs on the left hand side of the stage a large swathe of gold cloth. Throughout, the excellent use of lighting creates pools of gold into which Kinevane steps into and out of as he reveals parts of the inner life – the underneath. There is a great deal of laughter from the audience and Kinevane likes to give the impression that he is taking one or two members of the audience into his confidence. He tells anecdotes which are of a homely type, some of which may have a double entendre which may seem a little juvenile. He is however trying to reveal the part of the human psyche where pretence, the words “should” and “ought” have no place and therefore the fact that something may appear somewhat juvenile is not a relevant response. His “underneath” is a fragile world and he mines it with deft gentleness.

Next week weeks Kinevane is playing all three pieces in Dun Laoghaire and thereafter one or more of them in West Cork, Nenagh and Longford with a suitably haunting location for Underneath being the performance on 13th March in Glasnevin Cemetery Chapel.

Find out more about Underneath on Fishamble’s website here.

Writer and performer Pat Kinevane
Director Jim Culleton
Producer Marketa Dowling
Composer Denis Clohessy
Costume Stylist Catherine Condell
Choreography Adviser Emma O’Kane
Dramaturg Gavin Kostick
Photo by Ger Blanch, Graphic Design by Publicis Dublin

Touring:
PAVILION THEATRE, DúN LAOGHAIRE – 27th February (also Forgotten and Silent)
WEST CORK FIT UP THEATRE FESTIVAL – 4th – 8th March
PHIZZFEST – 13th March, Glasnevin Cemetary Chapel in association with Glasnevin Trust
NENAGH ARTS CENTRE – 15th March
BACKSTAGE THEATRE, LONGFORD – 19th March (also Silent)
RAMOR THEATRE, VIRGINIA – 21st March
MERMAID ARTS CENTRE, BRAY – 2nd April (also Forgotten)
CORK OPERA HOUSE – 9th April (also Silent)
RIVERBANK ARTS CENTRE, NEWBRIDGE – 15th April
ÉIGSE MICHAEL HARTNETT, NEWCASTLE WEST – 17 April
HAWK’S WELL THEATRE, SLIGO – 23rd April
THE NEW GARAGE THEATRE, MONAGHAN – 30th April
AXIS, BALLYMUN – 15th – 16th May
ÁRAS ÉANNA, INIS OÍRR- 23rd May
LISTOWEL WRITERS’ WEEK – 29th July
BALLINA ARTS CENTRE – 2nd July