Please Hold – Smock Alley – Review
by Frank L.

Dates – 20 – 23 Jan | Boys’ School
Age Suitability: 16+
Warnings: Strobe lighting / Strong language / References to drug and alcohol abuse

Please Hold – Written, composed and performed by Padraig Dooney

Padraig Dooney is a talented saxophonist. He also has the ability to see the comic in everyday commonplace happenings. He has, as a result, looked at the dreary world of “hold music”. It is now impossible to avoid hold music if you make telephone calls to any institution, large or small. Dooney creates hold music, and he talks about the process. He enriches the process by making several references to classical literature. It is a surprising mix.

Dooney appears attired in a dressing gown and pyjamas on a sparse stage on which there are a couple of synthesisers on a table, a saxophone on a stand and a small single bed. This represents the small, cramped apartment from which he is going to conquer the world with his hold music. He shares it, including the single bed, with his partner, with whom he is not romantically attached. The partner, when he does appear, does so in a surprising form. Dooney is ambitious for his hold music and decides to go to London to consolidate his initial success.  However, complications arise in the form of alcohol and drugs. A new world of chaos ensues.

Dooney presents as an offbeat eccentric who has hit upon a great money-making opportunity in relation to hold music. He is single-minded, messianic and manages to get the audience on his side even as his dreams fall apart. He is an accomplished musician, and his playing of various musical instruments adds to the enjoyment.

The show has been developed from the Scene and Heard Festival 2025. It lasts 50 minutes, and Dooney keeps the audience entranced and alert throughout. He richly deserved the enthusiastic applause he received at the end of the performance.

WRITTEN BY Padraig Dooney
DIRECTED BY Giles Brody, originally Sophie Merry
COMPOSITION & SOUND DESIGN BY Padraig Dooney
SOUND ENGINEER Michael Brady
LIGHTING DESIGNER Ciarán Gallagher
LIGHTING OPERATOR Danny Nolan
VIDEOGRAPHER Sophie Merry
PRODUCER Bernie Bourke
CAST Padraig Dooney