Stories of a Yellow Town
Bewley’s Cafe Theatre
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Bearing the animated physiognomy and dazzling apparel of a pair of court jesters, Miquel Barceló and Jonathan Gunning, armed with a ukulele and a couple of gags, make their way (all of one metre) from the audience to the stage. They call themselves "professional fools", but luckily there is method in their madness.
With numerous hats, a suitcase and slightly capricious accents, the duo retell the poignant and hilarious stories of the Brazilian migrant workers who arrived in Gort in 1999 to work there in meat factories, eventually accounting for 50 percent of the town’s population.
The amalgamation of two very different cultures makes for ample theatrical substance – the Brazilian people’s first sight of snow, the joy the Irish discover in looking at Brazilians looking at snow, introducing them to the particulars of camogie – but moments like these are relayed with excess expression by The Gombeens, resulting in the unfortunate overkill of some of the charming characters we meet.
Until Sept 21