Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill; and Buck Jones and the Body Snatchers.
Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill
National Concert Hall, Dublin
IF YOUR live music rations were limited to a single concert in the entire year, then you'd be either crazy or foolish if you didn't pass that precious time in the company of Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. This Earlsfort Terrace performance puts everything else in the traditional music firmament (and much else besides) in the ha'penny place.
This was not only a masterclass in musical virtuosity, but a breathtaking lesson in the fine art of lateral thinking, seamless segues and spellbinding introductions.
Hayes and Cahill's long-awaited CD release (after a nine-year hiatus) has resulted in the sublimely minimalist Welcome Here Again, a collection of gorgeously wrought tunes laid bare in all their fine-boned glory. In a live setting, a handful of these tunes metamorphose into something else, with Hayes playing the pied piper (or fiddling fiddler) and Cahill hand-weaving crucial chords that somehow catch the fiddle lines on the deepest arc of their curve.
It's his tone that sets Hayes apart: a ravishing filigree built on the firmest of foundations - that lonesome, melancholic east Clare style. Marrying tunes from across their albums on the set headlined by his, by now, trademark reading of the jig Tell Her I Am, Hayes and Cahill measured their momentum in minuscule increments, so the shift from the sublimely funereal to the celebratory was imperceptible - but visceral.
Martin's sister, sean nós singer Helen Hayes, joined the pair at two intervals, and while her choice of Seamus Ennis's English-language version of Dónal Óg lost much in translation (descending into a mundane tale of co-dependence), The Night Visiting Song caught the dark richness of her voice with far greater effect. Of course, Hayes and Cahill lent beautifully subtle accompaniment to the latter too.
A last-minute foray into jazz improvisation, ably led by Cahill, simply underlined the redundancy of boundaries when two musicians of such brilliance are in charge.
Matchless and magic: a timely reminder of what genius really tastes like.
SIOBHÁN LONG
Buck Jones and the Body Snatchers
Georgian House, Limerick
BUCK JONES has a problem. He's finally married the gorgeous actress Elvira - but has a secret that could destroy their life together: he's fathered a son with another woman. That child is missing, and only one person knows where to find him: Buck's arch-enemy, the graverobber and highwayman Larry Clinch. Can Buck and his English sidekick Charlie save the day? Will Elvira discover her husband's deceit? Who is that mysterious woman, silently stalking our heroes? And why has that supposedly dead body in the corner started twitching? The answers to these questions will take our characters - and the audience - on a hugely entertaining journey through the seediest inns and sidestreets of 18th century Dublin.
The play's success is dependent upon pacing: like all good farces, it moves so quickly that audiences will be laughing too much to think about characterisation or plotting. The production's most admirable feature is the acting. Led by Paul Meade as the eponymous hero, the cast move through multiple roles with wonderful timing - showing convincingly that the best way to perform farce is to treat it with complete seriousness.
Runs until June 28th. Booking on 061 314130.
PATRICK LONERGAN
