Warren Leight's Sideman, from the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, receives its European premiΦre performance this week at the Galway Arts Festival. It is a distinctly American piece, more sad than tragic, a eulogy of the heyday of the big bands in New York when the sidemen were the indispensable stalwarts of swing and jazz, switching from band to band, sometimes lucky enough to get a contract for a major tour lasting for weeks, often not knowing today where they might play tomorrow night or with whom. They played as much for themselves as for the money and, as the number of engagements declined, they lived in penury in their own diminishing world.

Gene (aka Genie) is a serious trumpeter who married Terri and called their only son "Clifford" after his trumpeting idol, Clifford Brown. Terri had wanted to call him "Francis Albert" after her favourite singer whom she never got to see in live performance and, unable to fit into the world of the sidemen, unable to get through to her un-noticing husband in that world, became a violent alcoholic with only young Clifford to watch out for her. Gene is out playing with Ziggy and Jonesy and Al, talking about Leon and Bernie, sidemen all.

It's a sad situation, potentially tragic, but the author seems primarily concerned with the dying fall of his chosen era and gives his actors little depth in their dialogue with which to develop their characters. He makes son Clifford the narrator, virtually removing him from the drama, while the sidemen crack gags and Terri cracks up as their worlds subside around them.

Anna D. Shapiro's direction is professional and proficient in an evocative setting by Mark Wendland encompassing Charlie's Melody Lounge where the sidemen gather, the apartment where Gene and Terri and Clifford live with borrowed furniture, the ledge outside the apartment whence Terri threatens to hurl herself to the street below, all well lit by Kevin Adams and Ben Stanton.

Karin Kopischka's costumes are spot-on and Joe Cerqua's sound design is superb. The acting is excellent, with Rondi Reed's Terri finely over the top, Rick Snyder's Gene snugly lost in his world of music, and Jim Salturous, Jason Wells and Will Zahrn as the durable gag-cracking drug-taking sidemen colleagues. But when it was all over, there seemed to be very little in it to be nostalgic about.

Runs until Saturday 22nd, nightly at 8 p.m. with 2.30 p.m. matinees tomorrow and Saturday. Booking: 091-566577