Admin review: Vivid and wry account of precarious London living

ADMIN

Project Arts Centre 
★★★★☆
A story about love ("in some ways") and money ("in many ways"), Oisín McKenna's spoken-word performance is a vivid and wry account of precarious London living. On an impossibly high stool before a hypnotic cascade of glitter, McKenna might seem above it all: the neurotic pursuit of mindfulness, the push alerts of looming disasters, the constant tug of eBay watchlists. But, like dreary offices and dismal parties, he weaves everything together with irony and insight. "I am barely even a Marxist," he sighs, unfulfilled by another one-click purchase.

That he does click with someone gives his story heart, soon promising Joe the support he so obviously needs himself. Throughout, McKenna is hyperalert – to wearisomely woke posers, or the complex path from Blair to Brexit – but cripplingly self-aware, conducting admin on his diet, personality, even storytelling. That makes one wordless moment marvellously effective, when director Darren Sinnott folds in politics, pop and the exquisitely personal, briefly letting Theresa May, Abba and an affecting picture of heartbreak do all the talking.

Runs as part of Dublin Fringe Festival until Sunday, September 15th