Limerick Theatre Hub in association with the Belltable Theatre presents Don Juan in Hell |

Belltable Theatre |

October 12th – 24th |

The spiderweb of criss-crossed rope that transformed the Belltable Off-site space into a claustrophobic netherworld made an immediate and lasting impression. Stretching from the entryway to the fire exit, creating an alternate ceiling and looming walls, the set Emma Fisher and Katherine Graham created was strikingly vitalised by the lighting; outstanding work. The corpse in the centre of the stage, unmoving as the audience filed in added to the eerie feel, but didn’t stop two old ladies in row two nattering on, even through the death throes that signalled the play’s beginning. I enjoyed their measure of what was truly important, the play may be starting but I have a story to finish. Don Juan in Hell is the third act of Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman, a treatise on morality, personal responsibility and people’s notions of what constitutes a good life. And for much of the play, a satisfactory afterlife. Hell, where the action takes place isn’t what you’d expect. Nor is heaven it seems. Some characters ended up where they thought they oughtn’t. Others got the apparent good end of the stick and wanted to throw it back. Don Juan, played by Nathan Gordon carried the bulk of the text in an extremely wordy piece and save a few extended musings which he didn’t quite own, managed to hold our attention. When it wandered there was the set to admire. Alternatively Éilish O’ Donnell’s character Ana, (the corpse, who came back to life in death) didn’t have enough dialogue. Her character is that of a slightly impetuous and spoilt girl-woman. Her rally against her fate seems puerile, entering and exiting the action with excess flourish. Toward the end of the play, she had some  humdingers to throw into the debate that was ongoing but I thought she could have done more, with more. Martin McGuire played Lucifer, his entrance onto the stage caused, as it should, a frisson. A controlled and playful performance, neither gobbling back nor spitting out his lines, he ekked the good out of those big thoughts in long sentences. Wordy worked better for him. My only gripe was that the cigarette he blazed up was a herbal, the devil can’t smoke herbal fags surely! Duncan Molloy in directing this piece, assumed a big challenge. Bernard Shaw’s ideas, although written in sharp dialogue that is often funny, are not light. Hard as it often is to get people to theatre even for straight comedy, the cast did a mammoth job very well, keeping the pace brusque but not rushed and the piece to a tidy and digestable 75 minutes. Ultimately for me, the stars were the inanimates. Darragh Bradshaw’s puppet of the Major was the most expressive and engaging character on the stage. That a statue could command complete attention, even when silent and still, was the most suprising disruption to my notions of this fabled Hell.

- Fara Fallsdown

Bad Reputation presents Seige of Limerick |

Baker Place & The Underground |

Sunday October 25th |

If you find yourself partial to experiences that involve the unadulterated electric vibe of sludge metal fused with the psychedelic rifts of stoner rock and melded with doom or heavy metal music then Baker Place was the venue of choice on Sunday October 25^th. On this particular day, a free 12-hour festival, the ‘Siege of Limerick’ played host to over 20 metal bands across two stages. Organised by metal music promoters Bad Reputation who have been running gigs since 2008, this event shows how they are setting the trend for quality metal gigs. Both upstairs and downstairs paid host to some amazing metal bands, with the only drawback being that the sound downstairs wasn’t great. Head liners for the night were Nenagh outfit Brigantia whose doom metal, mosh inciting set was preceded by bands like classic rock Mind at Risk, Italian doom metal band Misty Morning, old school thrash Soloway and groove / thrash metal Dead Label. The best bands of the night namely those that got the crowd pumping and induced sweat soaked carnage on the dance floor were For Ruin, Castero, Shardborne, Shadowmarch, Criminal Jammage and Cluricán.

- Shauna McDonnell