Desdemona - If You Had Only Spoken!

THE City Arts Centre again delivers the unexpected, this time in the form of an eclectic series of seven monologues, imagined…

THE City Arts Centre again delivers the unexpected, this time in the form of an eclectic series of seven monologues, imagined and realised by the German novelist Christine Bruckner. She takes seven women, from fiction, myth and history, and gives them voices "uncensored .. . incensed".

Katharina Luther gently snags her dozy Reformation man Desdemona takes issue with Othello over the hankies she gave him; Goethe's underbred and under read wife challenges the other love of his life. Most arrestingly of all, Gudrun Ensslin (one of the Baader Meinhof Group) snarls unrepentent abhorrence of, bourgeois values from her cell.

The writing is lyrical, satirical and finally elegiae by turns. The company, Pageant Wagon, should take a bow for staging Bruckner's work and broadening the scope of the Dublin theatrical repertoire. It challenges men's conduct towards their women; the wit in the writing enables allows it to steer clear of diatribe.

Production values are uneven. Aenne Barr, who also directs, exudes a stage tension in each of her three roles. She is terrifying as Ensslin. Aileen Byrne is more relaxed and ironic as the lady in Luther's life than as Goethe's girl (tentative timing and too much deliberation dilute the evident warmth of her portrayal.) Eithne McGuinness gives too much of Desdemona in profile to make maximum impact (the essential eye contact with the audience is lacking) but exudes courtesanly vivacity as Megara, who tries to counsel Lysistrata away from industrial action in bed. Set design is economical and ingenious in an awkward space; the costumes needs more contemplation and deserve more cash.