Reviewed: Trousers and Conor Linehan

Trousers Project Cube, Dublin

Two old friends are thrust together in Gúna Nua's new play, forced to share a flat when one of them seeks refuge after the bitter break-up of his relationship. The arrangement has bachelor-pad promises of wild times to come, but it is not to be. One man is fastidious and uptight, the other slovenly and laissez-faire. Has there ever been such an odd couple on stage? There has? Oh.

Neil Simon may not own the copyright on male relationship comedies, but Paul Meade and David Parnell's gently amusing, if rather slight, script is naggingly in thrall to his blueprint. The inversion here is that it's the slob who comes to stay, played as a cuddly bear with a mad streak in his eyes by Gerry McCann; intruding on his old friend Dermot (Tom Murphy), a postman and frustrated DJ, who resides among orderly towers of pine shelving, like a cityscape conceived by Ikea.

"It won't be for long," Mick says.

"No problem," Dermot says, and we snuggle in contentedly for the series of problems to come. The real problem, however, is that both men are directionless souls, edging toward their 40s, and pining for that unforgettable summer in New York. Laura Howe's neat set can't disguise its intentions and as Mark Galione's lights transform her skyscraper-like bookshelves into bookshelf-like skyscrapers, the play hops back and forth in time and place: from P45 layabouts in Dublin to J1 hell-raisers in New York.

Nostalgia is a soggy foundation for a play and - despite some efforts to depict mid-life male crisis - Meade and Parnell seem to sink down into it. As director, Parnell limits his usual formal invention to the time-dissolves, accompanied by a misty-eyed late-1980s soundtrack, but the predictable plotting has received less attention, while the jokes feel like slow fuses without an explosive charge.

Sensing this, perhaps, McCann and Murphy compensate for their one-note characters with physical gags - Dermot's puffed-up tai chi, Mick's extraordinary demolishing of a digestive biscuit - but while they make a warmly entertaining pair, little distracts from the feeling that this is sit-com material stretched thin.

The dynamics of a male partnership have never seemed to trouble Meade and Parnell before, who alternate their roles as writer/director without wondering who wears the trousers in their relationship. If there is an odd-couple structure in their co-writing, from dishevelled gags through to an impossibly neat throwaway resolution, there is little tension. That leaves the production feeling slick and amusing but inconsequential, as though the writers decided that male relationships really aren't that complicated after all.

Until Sept 9, then touring to The Civic (Sept 11-16) and Draíocht (Sept 19-23) and 59e59 Theaters, New York, in October - Peter Crawley

Conor Linehan (piano) NCH John Field Room, Dublin

Beethoven - Sonatas in C Op 2 No 3, in E Op 109. Chopin - Nocturnes in F minor Op 55 No 1; in F Op 15 No 1; Fantasy in F minor. Debussy - Estampes

Conor Linehan's recital at the NCH was not quite the one that might have been expected. On the one hand there was the programme. Debussy's Estampes was substituted for the advertised closing work, Stravinsky's devilishly-demanding Three Movements from Petrushka, a work of hens' teeth rarity in the repertoire of Irish pianists. And Beethoven's early Sonata in C replaced the advertised Ballades by Brahms.

Then there was the actual sound that Linehan produced. This was in general a bit heavier and more rounded than I remember from previous recitals. In general there was too much dynamic mirroring between the hands, though, paradoxically, there was also a tendency for the left hand to dominate as climaxes gained in volume. The loss of inner clarity and the sometimes cluttered textures impeded the achievement of the sharp stylistic characterisation that has been one of this player's hallmarks.

Linehan, however, remains a player of sound musical instincts. His goals are clear, he makes sensible tempo choices, and when he departs from the norm, his musical reasoning for doing so is usually evident. For me, the performance that stood head and shoulders above the rest was of Chopin's Fantasy in F minor. Here the balance between melody and accompaniment was nicely achieved, the pacing was sure, and the scale was finely judged. - Michael Dervan