A guide to Fringe Festival events
Dance Triple Bill II
Project
Three very disparate shows - it's like going to see a three-act play done first in English, then Catalan and finally Chinese. Mairead Vaughan's Shakram Dance Company headed the bill, with dancers Jennifer Fleenor, Olwen Grindley and Mariam Ribon using Vaughan's Indian-inspired movement vocabulary to execute a sculptural piece, The Anima and the Animus.
The following two shows were billed the other way around in the programme (as well as in the Fringe brochure); the Canadian group, Yvonne Ng's Tiger Princess Dance Projects, followed Shakram with Stone Velvet, choreographed by Ted Robinson to Bach in a witty pas de deux combining both clumsiness and grace to allow each dancer to occupy a distinct character in the piece.
Finally, Andros Zins-Browne's production, Limewire, played with youth culture and the paradoxical experience of intense individuality and the apposite, irresistible swell of the crowd. Born in the US but based in Brussels, Zins-Browne used the repetition of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit to point out the Dionysian, trance-like element of our relationship to rock. (Ends today) Christine Madden
Frozen Music
St Mary's Abbey
The 800-year-old St Mary's Abbey lends resonance to this production, which takes its title from Goethe's description of architecture. The venue is as much an actor in this show as Geraldine Plunkett, who delivers three texts meditating on life, identity and death. The abbey's arched ceiling and bumpy whitewashed walls are lit in a tracery of blue, gold and white light by Megan O'Doherty, textures echoed in the lace and linen costume designed by Bríd Uí Foghlú and Sandra Gibney. Plunkett's voice and impressive projection are matched by Geaspar Warfield's cello to mesmerising dramatic effect.
This is perhaps most notable in the Beckett piece Company, but also in Nuala Ní Dhómhnaill's Máthair/Mother- the Irish version counter-pointed by the English translation, and in Eavan Boland's The Lost Land. The show I attended was officially a preview - but as smooth and word-perfect as any performance needs to be. (Today; tomorrow; 20th to 23rd Sept) Noeleen Dowling
Pirate Sounds
Spiegeltent
There was no shortage of fake beards, eye patches or skull and crossbones as a host of Irish artists took to the stage for a pirate-themed night at the Spiegeltent. Dressed in ruffled shirts and bandanas, Steve and Joe Wall played a great, pesky version of Rock the Casbah, while Eoin Dillon was another highlight, performing a fiery set on the uileann pipes. Overall, however, the music was disappointing. We were promised "new versions of old treasures" but instead got the likes of Man Eater, I Like the Way You Work It and Young Hearts Run Free. It was a pity with all the talent present - Ronan O'Snodaigh, Lisa Hannigan among others - that such a lacklustre selection of covers was chosen. While there were thoughtful touches - the sound of seagulls and the sea in between sets - ultimately the crowd was the winner. Dressed in pirate hats with blackened eyes, many spent the night swaggering around, swords in the air, shouting "arrrrrrr". Sorcha Hamilton
Rep Experiment: Metamorphosis
Smock Alley
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic metaphor. Whether "vermin", "cockroach" or "insect", Kafka's famously altered alter-ego makes for a compelling study in duty, collapse and isolation. In David Horan's assured and elegant staging of Steven Berkoff's theatre adaptation, so pared down and exposed it makes monochrome seem like luxury, Gregor is almost a dancer.
Played by Paul Reid, a performer who has rarely had the opportunity to display such astonishing physical dexterity, Gregor moves with joints at unnatural angles, twitching as though through trick photography, while his family - David Heap's domineering patriarch, Janet Moran's consoling mother and Ailish Symon's saintly sister - use their bodies to subtly complete the picture under Bryan Burrough's artful choreography. Berkoff, never knowingly understated, doesn't lend himself to restraint - he actually seems more dated now than Kafka - and the production works better without the emotional diktats of the soundtrack, but it's a hard heart that could leave this show unmoved. (Performed in repertory: today, 19th and 20th Sept) Peter Crawley
Rep Experiment: Mr Kolpert
Smock Alley
*****
What's so funny about Mr Kolpert, an espresso-black comedy about modern conveniences and murder? It has twice as many doors as any farce might need, but it's not exactly a farce. It hails from Germany, but loses nothing in translation. It is full of edgy, amusing exchanges and splenetic confrontations, but involves so many audacious, wordless stretches I am tempted to call it a silent comedy - were it not for the gigglesome easy-listening soundtrack.
As the couple who have killed their colleague Mr Kolpert - or have they? - entertain another hysterically uptight pair, the sheer confidence of the cast (Kathy Rose O'Brien, Sam Corry, Fergal McElherron, Gillian McCarthy and Peter Daly) with their fluid manoeuvres through various comedic styles, is a tribute to the Rep Experiment's ensemble. But beyond the laughter there's a subversive shudder: do you recognise these blank professionals, hunting out a new sensation, while endlessly reciting digits and codes down the phoneline? Director Tom Creed has really got our number. (Performed in repertory: today, 21st, 22nd Sept) Peter Crawley
Toin Thar Ceann
Samuel Beckett Theatre
Something has gone wrong at the circus. Handstands are collapsing, hula hoops are rolling away, and the ringmaster has turned into a sleazy salesman. Perhaps the biggest sign that something is awry, however, is the silence in the almost empty auditorium. Tumble Circus, one of Ireland's only contemporary circus acts, has no-one to applaud its innovations.
Performed against the backdrop of a crafted traditional caravan, Toin Thar Ceann blends skilful slapstick and stylish stand-up comedy with live folk music, energetic acrobatics and impressive aerial tricks.
It is themed around the idea of marginality, which seems particularly ironic in light of the poor attendance. But that's what happens when family entertainment is scheduled at a time when most parents will be sitting down to dinner and homework with their children; a weekend street show would have been a far better use of the company's resources and talents. After all, what is a performance without an audience? (Until tomorrow) Sara Keating
Star turns:
Brilliant *****
Good ****
More good than bad ***
More bad than good **
Bad *
• The Dublin Fringe Festival runs until Sept 23. For details, see www.fringefest.com .
Box office: 1850-374643