Gulp – The International Bar – Review by Charlotte Reid

Following various characters and situations, Gulp is a sporadic look at young people’s complicated relationship with alcohol. Using monologues, short sketches and a bit of audience participation we are shown how our attitudes to alcohol are shaped by society and the expectation to drink.

It’s a very topical theme, some of the snippets of the girls drinking on the bus or in a nightclub could well be from real life and the familiarity clearly works well with knowing laughs from the audience. The constantly changing scenarios keep it moving along nicely. The loose storyline is how your relationship with alcohol changes as you get older. It only covers up till your early twenties but as that’s how old the actresses are you don’t feel like you need to go older. The various techniques are funny and entertaining, and the ‘quiz show’ sequences show how you can use audience participation without it feeling desperate.

Obviously if you’re covering alcohol you have to include the ups and the downs, and there’s overtones throughout that excessive drinking isn’t always the laugh that we think it is. It manages to get its message across without laying it on too thick, I think there was scope for it to go even further though on the downsides, but maybe not in the time they had. Being 22, I am the perfect target audience and I think a lot of the appeal of something like this is being in on the joke and relating to what they’re saying. If you’ve not been one of the girls drinking on nights out or been around them, then you’re going to feel a bit lost.

When talking about alcohol, there are so many ways you can do it. But for a short play I think they went down the right route with funny but thoughtful sketches, held together by two very strong leads. I don’t think anyone would have complained if it was a bit longer, which is always a good sign.

SQUAD presents GULP

The International Bar, Wicklow St
22nd – 25th November, 7.30pm
26th November, 6.30pm

Written by… Lorna Costello
Performed by… Lorna Costello and Emma-Jane Purcell
Directed by… Robert Downes
Produced by… Tamar Keane