AILEEN – Smock Alley Theatre – Review

12 – 17 Aug – 8pm, 3pm on 17 Aug
Boys’ School – Smock Alley

Venom & Duct Tape presents AILEEN

We meet Ripley as she is about to tell her story to a group of shareholders (the audience). Ripley has destroyed the Nostromo, a spaceship that cost several Trillion dollars and now has to justify her actions.  She takes us back in time to see what caused her to take such momentous actions.

Billed as a ‘comedy horror parody’ this is a retelling of Alien, the science fiction film from 1979 with several twists. This one-woman play adds a variety of gags and a lot of Irish accents. You learn a valuable lesson, never trust a robot with a Cork accent! The play follows the movie almost scene by scene as we see Ripley and her fellow travellers Ash, Dallas, Kane, Lambert and more. We also hear some elements not seen before, such as psyche evaluations of the various characters and what Ripley was thinking as she prepares to face off against the Xenomorph.

The concept of a film parody is not particularly new and on many levels, this is similar to what Dreamgun have been delivering for many years.  This production is all about the performance and Emma Moohan brings intensity and much humour to the role.  She uses the film as a basis to deliver gags and character studies, as she plays the different members of the Nostromo’s crew. She uses very few props and much is left to the audience’s imagination.  A glass table, a chair and a single ‘flame thrower’ are all the items on stage! The production does make good use of lighting to create mood and also uses projections onto the back wall of the set.

With the latest instalment of the Alien franchise, Alien Romulus, hitting the cinema this week, fans are left with an interesting choice! It is unusual to see plays in the science fiction genre on stage and the production may fall between two stools. Do science fiction fans visit the theatre?

The parody does take a few liberties with characters and embellishes the plot on occasion, so you’ll need to have a good knowledge of the original film. It is unusual for a one-woman play to last 95 minutes and it is quite a physical performance. Emma Moohan never lets her energy levels dip. She breezes through characters and delivers some good one-liners. The play starts slow but as Emma wins the audience over, they never leave her side.

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY Emma Moohan
DIRECTED BY Gertrude Montgomery
LIGHTING DESIGN BY Jess Fitzsimons Kane
SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC COMPOSITION BY Brian Keegan