Reviewed today are Animals 'n' Stuff/Merak at the Lambert Puppet Theatre, Dublin, the Avishai Cohen Trio at the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray and Dick Gaughan at Whelan's, Dublin
Animals 'n' Stuff/Merak
Lambert Puppet Theatre, Dublin
Gerry Colgan
The International Puppet Festival has a very attractive line-up this year, as the two shows under review bear cogent witness. Conor Lambert's Animal's 'n' Stuff breaks new ground as the writer-cum-puppeteer blends his talents in a series of comedy acts by a variety of creatures.
It begins with a sloth who finds life today all rush. Despite that, he found a girlfriend, a turtle, but she proved, alas, to be too fast for him. Then there is Bruce, a poncy kangaroo who blames Rolf Harris for the image of marsupials generally. The baby in his pouch (by adoption) is a sheep, and that's beginning to cause trouble. A drop-out dog bemoans the quality of leftovers in the rubbish today, the best going into compost for posh gardens. A snarling cat derides both dogs and homo sapiens. An emu mimes to the voice of Edith Piaf. These and others are presented in a perfect harmony of wit, appearance and manual manipulation, and are greeted with gales of laughter. A palpable hit.
From Bulgaria comes Merak, in which Maya and Vassil Svechtarov create extraordinary illusions from a handful of bits and pieces. A clothesline holds pegs, socks and a piece of netting. The performers, with two wooden pitchforks, turn them into predatory birds, toothless old men, a troupe of dancers, geometric people in motion, a predatory rooster and much more.
The duo, dressed in traditional black, merge themselves into their creations, with hands becoming claws, feet and other pieces of the picture, and do a little lively dancing themselves. Their co-ordination and timing, backed by folk music, produce fascinating effects to absorb and amuse their audience. Another winner.
Avishai Cohen Trio
Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Ray Comiskey
Organised by Note Productions, the Avishai Cohen Trio completed a brief Irish tour in Bray. The show had much in common, in terms of content, approach and audience reception, with the group's appearance at the Guinness Jazz Festival in Cork last year, where it was rapturously received.
With Cohen on bass, Sam Barsh (piano/keyboards/melodica) and Mark Giuliana (drums), they offered a take on jazz which, with its odd metres, shifts of tempo and in its lines and harmony, was suffused with their origins in Jewish folk music, mixed with occasional classical hints. As it showed Cork, it was a highly skilled trio, disciplined and honed to precision, and clearly the creation of the bassist, who wrote all but two of the pieces played.
Apart from its relative rhythmic complexity, much of the material was comparatively straightforward. Melodic, often with simple repeated lines, it was easy on the ear and crisply played, and though Cohen didn't announce every piece, most of it - Feediop, Renouf's Last Tooth, No Words, Remembering, Toledo - came from the group's last CD, At Home. It was accessible, entertaining and well crafted music.
Perhaps because they have been doing predominantly the same repertoire for so long, the trio's performance seemed largely on automatic pilot, however, with little of the edge and sense of discovery associated with jazz. Only New New and Emotional Storm, fresh material, seemed to spark them to move away from well-drilled grooves.
For someone described by the prestigious American jazz magazine, Downbeat, as "a jazz visionary of global proportions", it was neither visionary nor global; more like the jazz lite heard in Cork. To be fair, this is probably more to blame the trio for what it is not, than to praise it for what it is; a group of excellent musicians (Giuliana is a particularly gifted drummer) playing well-crafted music which is both easy on the ear and enjoyable. And, ultimately, forgettable.
Dick Gaughan
Whelan's, Dublin
Siobhán Long
A troubadour who has trawled the highways for more than four decades, Gaughan is the quintessential protest singer. The trouble is, his arguments sound increasingly jaded and recycled.
Which is not to say that he doesn't still draw a faithful following, hungry for the tales that Gaughan has made his own. Revolution, Games People Play and A Different Kind Of Love Song stretched their wily frames around life's universal truths.
In a performance that didn't stretch beyond an hour (including encore), Gaughan pressed all the right buttons for an audience primed for just a tincture of protestation. Current political references focused largely on the idiocy of our transatlantic neighbours, but references to England rang hollow, shackled by Gaughan's well-worn but tired nationalism, a political perspective that's as backward-looking and unproductive as many of the safe positions he so quickly accuses politicians of adopting.
There were a few shafts of light. No Gods And Precious Few Heroes articulated a keen sense of alienation, and his exhortation to rejoice in difference struck a particular cord. Gaughan has always been a man of passion with a firm belief in the power of words and music. It's a shame that he's willing to rest idly where old notions of nationalism reign supreme.
Yet again, a live band in the adjoining front bar competed for airspace - and the dearth of seating in a less-than full room is an eternal puzzler, forcing punters to sit on the floor. It's one of life's great mysteries that Dublin audiences are prepared to put up with such disdainful treatment by venues.
