The Pitchfork Disney – The Teachers Club – Review

Judder Theatre Company
Dates: 24.08.26 – 05.09.26
The Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square West

Presley Stray (Vincent Patrick) and his sister Haley (Lacy Moore) live together in a run-down, dishevelled house, seemingly cut off from the outside world. The twins live alone, their parents having died at some point in the past, and their existence has become increasingly insular. Haley, in particular, rarely ventures outdoors. She refuses to go to the shops, instead recounting increasingly fantastical stories about her encounters with fierce dogs in the outside world. Isolated from society, the pair retain something almost childlike in their conversations and in their understanding of reality.

Presley makes daily trips to the shops to stock up on the essentials of life: biscuits and chocolates. His particular favourite is Fruit and Nut, while Haley has a fondness for Orange chocolate. Their tiny, carefully controlled world remains largely undisturbed until Presley spots someone outside their house and, surprisingly, invites them in. It is a decision that begins to unravel the fragile existence the twins have constructed for themselves.

Although Philip Ridley’s play is more than 30 years old, having first been staged in 1991, it still feels remarkably contemporary in both its style and characterisation. There are echoes of Enda Walsh, and even Martin McDonagh, in its depiction of isolation, loneliness and the ever-present threat of violence. Ridley creates a world that is both absurd and unsettling, where humour and menace exist in uncomfortable proximity.

This is another production from Judder Theatre Company, which has developed a reputation for exploring smaller works by playwrights such as Edward Albee (The Zoo Story), Harold Pinter (The Dumb Waiter) and Anton Chekhov (The Bear). Working without the obvious resources of larger theatre companies and occupying some of Dublin’s more intimate spaces, such as the Teachers Club, the company’s work feels driven more by a genuine love of theatre than by any expectation of financial reward.

Four characters appear on stage at various points, with Vincent Patrick’s Presley Stray providing the production’s central presence. He plays Presley as dim but well-meaning, a man whose innocence makes him both endearing and increasingly vulnerable. Lacy Moore’s Haley is scattered-brained and otherworldly, inhabiting a reality that seems increasingly detached from the one beyond the walls of their home. Adam Redmond brings a palpable sense of menace to proceedings as the intense Cosmo, while Gavan O’Connor Duffy makes a brief but suitably sinister appearance.

The production will perhaps be of greatest interest to those keen to see the work of Ridley, a playwright whose work is rarely performed in Ireland. Thankfully, this production does justice to the material, capturing both its dark humour and unsettling sense of claustrophobia.

It is always welcome to see a theatre company committed to giving space to emerging actors while also exploring the work of modern theatrical classics. Judder Theatre Company may be operating on a small scale, but there is a genuine sense of purpose behind its work.