Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD Previews Jun 30 – Jul 1; Opens Jul 2 – 18 8pm
“In the end, it’s not art, it’s mathematics,” laments one character in Michael Frayn’s black comedy about good intentions and more prosaic realities from 1984. He could easily be talking about the factors currently involved in staging a show in this country.
b*spoke, a company with a wealth of good programming ideas but a paucity of finances, has recently moved into the offices of Dublin stalwarts Rough Magic. This has allowed the younger company access to the elder’s resources, and their latest production resembles a Rough Magic show in everything but name. As director, Rough Magic’s Lynne Parker works with a cast and crew of Rough Magic regulars to tackle a playwright who has already proven immensely successful for Rough Magic. Frayn’s play, told in flashback from four different perspectives, is a complicated, provocative, invigorating work and the easy kinship between b*spoke and Rough Magic points to a sound partnership. A drama of ideas about the failure of well-meaning liberalism and the personal, neighbourly travesties caused by a social housing project, staging Benefactors seems like a provocative in-joke. As several theatre companies now enter the strong embrace of others, what benefits and sacrifices will there be for their original identities? From any perspective – socially, politically, theatrically – this makes for a very timely satire.
Can't see that? Catch this:
Examining New Ways to Fund the Production and Presentation of Theatre, www.artscouncil.ie*
*Or, in the highly likely event that you will not appreciate this reasonably good joke: Excess Baggage, Limerick
