Low Lying -Tiger Dublin Fringe Review

Created by Robbie Blake, Jessie Keenan and Ciara McKeon

Dates Sep 23 – 25 @ 14:00 & 16:00 – Tickets €14 / €12 conc.
Duration 60 mins – Venue: Meeting point at Spencer Dock Luas stop

A sense of anticipation grows as you arrive at the Luas stop in Spencer Dock. The performance takes place at a secret location and I will take its secret to my grave! All I could possibly reveal is that it is an indoors location and only a short walk from the stop. You are met by one of the performers who guides the group to the location, through the various apartment and office blocks in the area.

The performance is based around the Docklands and aims to make the viewer see the area in a new light. To consider their surroundings instead of merely passing through them, which is so often the case with the modern commuter. The area has many vacant sites that have been left idle since the boom years waiting to be reborn. The most obvious new building is the Central Bank which is nearing completion. This structure was meant to be the home of Anglo Irish bank, the worst of all the financial institutions and the poster boy for the madness of the Celtic Tiger. This is just one of the ideas that inspired this piece.

The production is a collaboration between three artists who all work in different fields. Visual artist Ciara McKeon, composer Robbie Blake and choreographer Jessie Keenan. It is a meeting of equals, as no one discipline comes to the fore. The music is mainly choral with some impressive harmonies. The choreography is quite subtle and is more about controlled movement than it is about explosive dance. The visual style is present throughout with some of the sections being closer to performance art than anything else.

The production is broken into a number of smaller sections, where different movements are explored. Some of these have clear narratives while others feel quite indecipherable. One of the most impressive things about the production is how the seven performers move between music and movement and look equally at home with both disciplines. Dance is often considered one of the more difficult of the arts, but this combination of worlds is by no means obtuse. The danger is that the production slips into something quite ponderous, but it keeps on the right side of the line. This piece is at times quite comedic and sardonic, while at other times quite beautiful.