Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
4 stars Imagine throwing a party and nobody came. That's kind of what happens in Romanian absurdist Eugene Ionesco's absurdist classic, revived here in an Irish-accented pop-eyed take on proceedings by the wonderful Sligo-based Blue Raincoat company, who apply their trademark physical tics to the play's conscious sense of its own ridiculousness. As the Old Man and Old Woman await their guests in a semi-circular room where the much admired Orator will hold court to their salon, the Old Man sits on his spouse's knee like some ancient ventriloquist act, as the couple discuss the apparent destruction of Paris, just who is pulling the strings is never quite clear. As a succession of invisible 'guests' arrive to be seated in a makeshift auditorium, is this red letter day an elaborate construction to survive the last days on earth with dignity and marbles intact? Or, on a more theatrically practical level, is it merely good economics to not have an actual cast of thousands appearing in the flesh? Either way, Niall Henry's production suggests that John Carty's Old Man and Sandra O'Malley's Old Woman's final hour holding court to the great and the good is also their finest. When Ciaran McCauley's Orator finally appears, his seemingly meaningless presentation becomes a form of sound poetry that goes beyond words. The most telling part of the play comes at the end, when, the Orator finished and the couple dead, we hear the coughing, shuffling and fidgeting of an audience leaving. Such noises off mirrors the real-life audience's behaviour in a manner that speaks volumes about how much theatre-goers are prepared to invest in apparently difficult works like this. The Herald, June 11th 2012 ends
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