Coisceim Dance Theatre's Ballads is in one way the ideal piece to take to the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, as the great Famine of the 1840s would have considerable resonance in the US. On the other hand, it is not David Bolger's most accessible piece, though it received an ovation after the opening of this revised version on Wednesday in the Samuel Beckett Theatre.

It has many moving moments, from the series of images flashed out of the opening darkness through the scenes of hunger, degradation and mourning to the stormtossed ship and human flotsam and jetsam hurled around in the raging seas, but it is so full of symbolism that I kept wondering if I was missing something significant. Clever use is made of props, from a pair of boots to a piece of wood representing many different things and sound effects contribute to Diane O'Keefe's cello, Martin Nolan's pipe and whistle music and the sound design of Bell Helicopter.

Paul Keogan's lighting and Helen McCusker's costume design are most effective. Running for just over an hour without an interval, and capitalising on the larger space now available, the piece is beautifully danced by Muirne Bloomer, Benjamin Dunks, Anne Gilpin, Robert Jackson and Simone Litchfield.

The last performances before it travels to the US are at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. today