PERFORMANCES – 14 – 17 September
Venue – Smock Alley Theatre – Boys’ School
Duration – 70mins

Alice (Rosa Makela) is a young actor struggling to make a living. She’s worked in a variety of small roles as bit parts and extras, but she has never made enough to comfortably pay for her food and rent. That’s when she’s approached to play an unusual role. A wealthy man, Carl (Paul Sheehan), has a difficult relationship with his daughter, Melissa, who has moved to live abroad. He is completely estranged from her and they have no contact. Alice is asked to live with the man and pretend to be his daughter. At the end of a specified period, she would leave, to give the man a chance to say a proper goodbye.

This is an unusual genre for theatre, as it is closer to a psychological drama as the two characters play off each other. We see the world through Alice’s eyes, as she tries to make sense of what she is being asked to do. All is going well until a few comments from her employer make the situation quite tense. He comments that his daughter would never wear hair spray as that is only for ‘whores’. The situation quickly becomes quite strained and uneasy. We’re never quite sure what he wants from her, or what he hopes to achieve with his mind-games.

This play comes from Loom Theatre, which prides itself on being an innovative company that “blends modes of theatre, film, and performance where boundaries and definitions are erased in exciting new ways”. A number of sections of the production were filmed and projected onto the back wall of the set, which allowed the company to broaden the scope of the play.

Rosa Makela plays our main protagonist and we start to worry for her safety as the play develops. Paul Sheehan is impressive as the volatile father figure. He was possibly a little young for the role, but in the days of blind casting, it is a small point. The story is impressive, but it is left on a cliff edge, as the audience expects a third act with a twist. Instead, we’re left to wonder what became of these characters. Maybe it is something the company could return to at some point in the future, to tie up these loose ends. In this work, they have created a tense and complex hour of theatre, as the audience tries to find out the reasons behind this unusual agreement.

Director: Éadaoin Fox
Producer: Maeve Scannell
Cast: Paul Sheehan, Rosa Makela & Aoife Commons
Production Manager: Megan O’Connor
Stage Manager: Dee Finn
Lighting Designer: Patrick Lehane
Sound Designer: Ruairi Bourke
Production Designer: Emer Kiely

Image: Conal Hanam