Inhabitance – Project Arts Centre – Review

Priscilla was never the perfect mother. She drank too much and argued with her daughter Lucy. The two women tolerated each other, but as Lucy got older she started to go off the rails. When Lucy goes missing, Priscilla is desperate to get her back. She goes to the police, but all they see is another messed up family, another teenager lost to drink or drugs. In her desperation she starts talking to some TV executives to see what they can do to help.

This is the same writer/ director team that brought us Broadening in 2013, which was based on the Stanford Prison Experiments. This new play by Peter Dunne looks at society through a camera lens and is horrified by what it finds. The story is set in a not too distant future, where the world of reality TV has gone to an extreme. There is a slow drip feed of information as the viewer unravels the complex setting in which this piece is based. The world of social media is dismantled, as the general public cast their votes and like or dislike with impunity, not realising or caring the effect they are having on the real people involved.

The set is quite simple, with a collection of scaffolding tubes fixed at abrupt angles around the stage. There are a number of TV sets perched at various vantage points also. The four members of the cast are already on stage as the audience enters the theatre. They’re lurking in the background, looking out at us, while static shows on the TV screens.

This is an interesting and worthwhile piece of new writing. There are possibly too many strands in the tale, and it would have helped to simplify the story and deal with a smaller number of plots in greater detail. Regardless of this, what is presented is very engaging. Fíonna Twamley Hewitt particularly catches the eye as the desperate mother Priscilla, who would do anything to be reunited with her daughter. It is uncommon to see a thriller of this type on stage in Dublin, and in that respect it is quite an unusual work.

Written by Peter Dunne
Director Ronan Phelan
Cast includes Charlie Bonner, Fíonna Twamley Hewitt, Michelle McMahon and Amilia Stewart
Producers Donncha O’Dea and Aoife Moroney Ward
Set Design Zia Holly
Sound Design Denis Clohessy
Graphic Design Oliver Smith