This Lime Tree Bower – Project Arts Centre – Review

16 February 2016-27 February 2016 8.15pm
Tickets €10 – €18

This is a tale of three young men who live in a small seaside town somewhere on the outskirts of Dublin. They are very different characters and each has their own story to tell. David Fenelly plays Joe, the youngest of the three and a man who is coming to terms with adult life, experimenting with alcohol and girls. He has a naive charm and is quite open and honest about his feelings. Peter Daly plays Ray with more than a hint of bravado. A lecherous young philosophy lecturer that chases his female students and lives to tell the tale of the night before in gory detail! Stephen Jones plays Frank, a man who makes an unusual decision to take the local councillor/ loan shark down a step or two.

This play was written by Conor McPherson in 1995 and is one of his earliest works, when he was a mere 24 years old. The three tales exist in a heightened reality and there motivation is never particularly clear. While McPherson was not the finished article at this point, the play has a lot of wit and charm to it and his talents were obvious.

All three are dressed in black suits and there is the feeling of the night after a funeral, although it is never explicitly stated. They are sitting around a kitchen table drinking, with empty beer bottles and a bottle of whiskey being passed around. The set is simple other than a window on the wall behind them showing a setting sun. At first it appears to be a still image but occasional movement of birds and clouds reveal it to be a video.

The play comprises of three intercut monologues with minimal interaction between the actors. They tell their individual tales in long sequences, without interruption from the others. The production is carried by the three man cast. They are very different performances, with Fennelly showing real vulnerability and openness. Daly is quite the opposite with his macho tale of excess. Jones falls somewhere between the two and his story is the centre piece of the tale. At just over an hour, this is a short burst of life in suburbia that has a lot of charm.

Starring Peter Daly, Stephen Jones, David Fennelly
Directed by Eoghan Carrick
Set and Costumes by Alyson Cummins
Lighting Design by Eoin Winning
Produced by Eoin Kilkenny
Images by Ste Murray