CHOP – Dublin Fringe Festival – Review

CHOP – Lords of Strut & Cian Kinsella

Performances – 10 Sept, 18:00 (preview), 11 – 13 Sept, 21:15, 12 Sept, 13:30
Venue – Smock Alley Theatre – The Patrick Sutton Studio, Gaiety School of Acting

We meet Stacey (Cian Kinsella) as he is doing what he does best: chopping wood! He’s a man with an axe, and he knows how to use it. Chopping is an activity that men have carried out for generations, and he’s just following in this noble tradition! We watch Stacey in action, at least until he encounters a few distractions along the way.

Cian Kinsella is a member of The Lords of Strut, who recently featured in Riot by THISISPOPBABY. This production, along with their other work, contains physical dexterity and absurdist humour. This work explores masculinity, while dabbling at the edge of the climate crisis, all seen through a lens of madcap humour.

Nominally, this is a one-man show starring Cian Kinsella, but there are several other characters on stage. Early on in the production, Stacey receives a call asking for a Health and Safety Officer to be appointed for the duration of the show. This comes in the form of an unsuspecting member of the audience who is dragged up on stage. Top tip, it’s ok to sit in the front row, as that was deemed ‘too obvious’ by Cian. There is also a stage manager who makes several brief interventions.

Expect puppets (Birdie #1), crafts and a whole lot of chopping, all carried out with an intense and manic nature from our ‘Bro’s bro! Cian is surprisingly good with an axe, and it’s quite difficult to chop the lumps of wood he bashes and breaks on stage. This work is typical of Cian’s oeuvre, which is amusingly eccentric in nature. It’s a short, sharp burst of typical Fringe oddness!