The Garden of Shadows – Dublin Fringe Festival – Review

PERFORMANCES  – 14 – 17, 19 & 20 September – 20:30 – 22:30 (various times), €18/€16/€13
OTHER PERFORMANCES – 21 – 24 September  – 20:00 – 22:30 (various times), €18/€16/€13

Special offer: Group of 4 tickets: €65 –
Venue – National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin
Duration – 60mins

Presented by Dublin Fringe Festival in partnership with National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Office of Public Works, and axis: Ballymun

At the start of this production, you wait just inside the main gates of the National Botanic Garden. They take groups of 30 into the garden at the same time. You’re given a short introduction to the piece and told what you can and can’t do. You’re allowed to take photos but don’t use flash as it would ruin the ‘ambience’ of the experience for yourself and others. After that, you’re let wander the gardens and experience these installations at your own speed.

This is the work of Jony Easterby, the Welsh artist and producer. This is a follow-up to the Remnant Ecologies, which had a sold-out run in the National Botanic Gardens as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival last year. If you visited Remnant Ecologies, you will know what to expect from this. While this is a new work, there is a fair degree of similarity between the two and you’ll be familiar with some of the work on display. Remnant Ecologies quickly sold out last year, so this is another chance for many people who were disappointed at missing it.

The work you will experience is quite varied in form. You’ll see some video pieces, with short animated work showing the life of trees, from the moment they break ground until they are fully grown and providing a home for many creatures. There are also light boxes which show slowly changing images of branches of different types of trees. Some of the best work takes the form of projections onto netting, which appear like ghostly apparitions, floating in space. These video pieces are based around nature as you see trees, seeds and fields with grain being harvested.

There are also some audio experiences, with small bellows-like apparatus which move by clockwork, emitting short bursts of sound at regular intervals. There is ambient music in many parts of the walk, with drones and synth sounds. At the end of the experience, there is a space where speakers have been set up amongst the plants and flowers, which play the sounds of various female voices singing simple phrases.

If you missed Remnant Ecologies last year, this new work comes strongly recommended. It is quite a unique experience for the viewer. It can feel quite magical at times, while other sequences are quite unnerving and ghostly like you’ve stumbled upon the fairy folk while walking home late at night.