Laundry is a site specific piece which was in the Magdalene laundry in Sean McDermott street, Dublin. I made it to the play on Saturday afternoon, so very near the end of the run. I’d heard the hype on twitter and other sources, but was slightly hesitant about it, as I was when I booked it originally. Some things are very hard to watch!

The building has immense presence, and you can’t help but be caught up in the lives that were played out inside it’s walls, after all the stories you have heard over the years. Once inside the building, you are sepearted from the other people you entered with, and lead from room to room by the actors inside, all dressed as magdalene women and telling you details and stories, some hard hitting and some quite humorous. You even get to help one of the girls to escape and then are taken on a taxi trip by Den Den the taxi driver around the area. It is immersion theatre at it’s best, and you’re not even sure when you leave that the play is over and that the people around you aren’t actors.

It is from Anu Productions, who amazingly don’t even seem to have their own web site, but after this and world’s end lane, they have made their mark on Dublin theatre and are certainly worth looking out for in future. Hopefully this piece will return to Dublin at some stage, and it deserves to be seen by more than did during it’s brief stay.