The Boyz of Harcourt Street – Smock Alley – Review by Frank L

Written by Laurence Falconer and Brendan O’Donohue

13 – 18 Jun | 7:30pm | Main Space

It is Friday evening. There are three lads in their communal office who live for that moment when work finally stops and play can begin.  Falconer, O’Donohue and one Keith-James Walker are the lads and with dance, mime and some words they crash through a weekend. They are ably assisted by one Tiernan Kearns who at the back of the stage complements their antics by the use of a variety of gadgets laid out on a table. With them he expertly supplies a myriad of sound effects to depict a vast array of activities which intensifies the various escapades in which the three lads are indulging. There is of course booze, there is Dutch courage and there is no courage at all as each of the lads negotiate their social strengths and inadequacies. It all takes place at a merry clip and the youngish audience, who were mostly contemporary in age to the actors, laughed happily along at the various scrapes and antics of the lads.

What gave the show strength and constantly brought a smile to the lips was the skilful use by Tiernan Kearns of the various sound effects which were always on cue. These sounds gave the entire show a slickness and underlined the assiduous amount of preparation that had to have taken place in its preparation. In addition it gave a professional ballast to the entire affair. It was reminiscent of an excellent percussion section in a large orchestra with a complicated score. It greatly helped the three lads to fall in and out of their various mishaps with a certain sense of misplaced if confident bravura.

This new production, “workshopped and re-written, is now in its fully realised state” – Our review of the earlier 2014 incarnation is here.