outRAGEous fortune– Smock Alley – Review by Frank L.

Written & Performed by Carol Walsh

12 – 14 April | 8pm | Boys School

Dolores (Carol Walsh) from the time she discovered Shakespeare as a teenager, has had a base ambition to be a Shakespearean actor. The famous Globe theatre was her aim. She decided to attend drama school in preparation for realising her ambition, notwithstanding her wise parents’ suggestion of a less risky career with a cautionary “what if” which she dismissed with contempt.

Dolores, who is a clown, describes the various techniques she learnt at drama school and involves the audience in relation to some of them. She has an intimate knowledge of Shakespeare and his many familiar phrases trip off her lips. The title gives you a fair clue and the block capitals give an inkling as to her state of mind. She is obsessed with playing Shakespeare and obsessions have a habit of leading an individual to a lonely place.

Fairly early on in her education she hits the problem of the irrationality of the audition and the subsequent weird decisions made as to which actor will play which part. Needless to say she is at the wrong end of these decisions. Being headstrong she chooses a non-diplomatic course of action to right the wrong which she suffered. This reduces her options further so she is forced to do her own production of a Shakespeare play.

This is an enjoyable romp through some of Shakespeare’s tragedies. It lasts less than an hour and the familiarity of some of the lines juxtaposed by delivery from a clown will bring a smile to the lips. It makes you realise yet again what a genius Shakespeare was in his ability to create phrases which are and have been for some considerable time past, part of our everyday patter.

Written & Performed by Carol Walsh
Co-created & Directed by Ita Fitzmahony
Lighting Design by Cillian Mc Namara