All Washed Up – The New Theatre – Review

Oct 24th – Nov 5th @ 7.30pm

Alice has found herself living in unusual circumstances. She is sharing a one bed apartment with her friend Fionn. It is a small space in the centre of Dublin, an apartment where the only thing good about it is the view. Their relationship was briefly sexual, but it didn’t work out. Now they seem comfortable with their non-conventional living arrangement. That is until a new element is introduced. Fionn arrives home one night with Alice, a third person added to the mix. As Fionn quickly disappears off to work the next morning, the two women are left to get to know each other in this most awkward of settings!

This is a new play by Rosebuds Theatre company who aim to make theatre out of ‘the magic in the everyday’. As such, there is no major story arc to follow here, just the relationships of the three characters and the fragments we learn about their back stories. It focuses on the trivial and the mundane, the games that people play to keep themselves occupied. In some ways this makes the job of keeping the audience entertained more difficult, as there is no plot to follow. There are a number of quite funny scenes in this, built out of very little other than the three quirky characters.

There is a small but impressive set, with a collection of grubby furniture you might find in student apartments around Ireland, cast-offs and other items that have been thrown out by those at the other end of society. The idea behind the project is admirable, but there is always a danger that focusing on the trivial elements in life can leave a production a bit dull. The three actors do a good job with their parts, but really they could have done with more meat to get their teeth into. There is the odd sharp and comedic scene, flashes and sparks of wit and charm, but overall the story leaves the viewer wanting more.

All Washed Up is the debut original play by Rosebuds, written by Karen Killeen, Jamie Sykes and Romana Testasecca.

Cast: Karen Killeen, Jamie Sykes and Romana Testasecca.

Directed by Lorna Costello.