You Never Can Tell – Abby Theatre – Review

Dates: 2 December – 6 February 2016

You Never Can Tell is a play by George Bernard Shaw, first performed in 1897, which tells the tale of Mrs. Clandon and her children. They have lived in Madeira for the past 18 years and this is the children’s first trip to Britain in the form of an unnamed seaside town. Mrs. Clandon is a writer and has had a number of very successful books in Madeira, but her fame doesn’t seem to have reached beyond its shores. She left England many years previous without her husband and the kids have no idea who their father is! The children start to demand answers on this trip and through a series of coincidences end up closer to their father than they had expected!

This is a light-hearted comedy of romance and coincidence that is well suited to the Christmas period. There are many comedic and jaunty moments over the course of the play and it rips along at a nice pace. The various characters are played in a loud and slightly outrageous fashion. Niall Buggy gets most of the laughs with his portrayal of William the Waiter, with a variety of pauses and odd sounds and at times seemed to be channelling Victor Meldrew! The twins Dolly (Genevieve Hulme-Beaman) and Philip (James Murphy) are also fine impish creations and are entertaining due to their lack of knowledge of English society and their many inopportune comments. Eamon Morrissey has the difficult part of Mr. Crampton, the stern Victorian father, and struggled alongside such impetuous performances, but otherwise the cast immerse themselves in the high camp world.

Despite the many fine lines crafted by Shaw, the play does not pretend to be anything more than a light hearted comedy and after the interval, the masquerade ball allows the ostentatious manner to be elevated further. The duration of three hours including the interval was slightly too long for this style of play, but it is difficult to see how this could have been altered. This is an enjoyable, off hand production that the crowd on the night really enjoyed and is easy viewing. It is a season in which the world of theatre lets its hair down, and this production is no different. If you’re expecting a challenging, introspective piece, I’d recommend you shop elsewhere, but if it’s a fun night for the family you are after, you could do a lot worse.

Credits

Niall Buggy – Walter the Waiter
Denis Conway – Bohun
Rory Corcoran – Jo, another waiter
Nick Dunning – Finch McComas
Emilie Hetland – The Parlor Maid
Genevieve Hulme-Beaman – Dolly
Eleanor Methven – Mrs. Clandon
Eamon Morrissey – Mr. Crampton
James Murphy – Philip
Caoimhe O’Malley – Gloria
Paul Reid – Valentine
Conall Morrison – Director
Liam Doona – Set Design
Joan O’Clery – Costume Design
Ben Ormerod – Lighting Design
Conor Linehan – Composer and Sound Designer
Muirne Bloomer – Movement Director

Photos by Ros Kavanagh.