Recovery – Project Arts Centre – Review

19 April 2016-23 April 2016 8.15pm

The programme for this production is in the form of a slightly over sized inlay booklet for a CD. It’s complete with track list and lyrics to the individual songs, but it proudly proclaims on the cover that ‘This Album has not been recorded’.

This is a live performance of an album, or a collection of songs performed live on stage, but there is a strong theatrical element to the production. It opens with a song by the Boss; Bruce Springsteen. It’s a live performance of Dancing in the Dark where Bruce dances with his mother and sister. The video is projected onto a large circular screen, possibly an upturned trampoline or large drum, that is on the back wall of the set. After the song ends, Peter Coonan emerges on stage and there is a spoken word piece about what Bruce means to this lonely character. He works in a bar in New Jersey and feels that Bruce has altered his life, changing him from a loser into a character in an epic poem. It is at this point the music begins in earnest.

There are four actors/ singers on stage; two men and two women. There are only a few words spoken between songs and it largely flows from one song to the next without a clear narrative. The arrangements are unusual and while there is never a band on stage, there are instruments playing in the wings. Some songs are pieced together from samples of the sounds the singers make. The percussion and bass lines are made up from taps, bangs and other inconsequential sounds that are looped. The vocal pieces are also recorded and looped to form a many layered and complex sound. Other songs are simple A cappella tracks with the singers showing impressive skill with their vocal harmonies. The audience are also involved in some songs, as we sing the chorus or response to ‘Why don’t you ring someone?’

‘Last night I saw you
On the couch at a quarter to three
You were watching Ricki Lake
And drinking Barry’s Tea’ – Why Don’t You Ring Someone?

The actors on stage all dance/ move and act out scenes during the songs. For some songs the actions are quite mundane but are carried out in an irreverent or bizarre fashion, transforming them into something new. Other songs have movement and dance associated, Peter Coonan bouncing off the walls to one song. All four singers have their moment in the spotlight and it adds variety to the evening. The production displays great invention and creativity, never resting on any one idea. This is difficult to pigeon hole as it is neither a play nor a gig, but it’s certainly a unique performance.

Cast: Peter Coonan, Maud Ní Riordáin, Aoife Spratt, Stephen Quinn

Choreography: Aoife McAtamney

Sound Design: Jack Cawley

Set Design: Ger Clancy

Lighting Design: IIo Tarrant

Projection Design: Néill O’Dwyer

Voice Director: Robbie Blake

Producer: Hugh Farrell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCoPig5eoUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlvjznOEWjk