0800 Cupid
Space Upstairs, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
★★★★★
Thisispopbaby, created by the theatre- and festival-maker Jennifer Jennings and the playwright Phillip McMahon in the mid-2000s, quickly earned a reputation for producing catalytic queer-theatre events. It established a clear aesthetic at the outset: productions were camp and subversive hybrids drawing on the conventions of performance art, burlesque, drag and musical theatre. This eclectic approach has proven to be a winning ticket in the development of performance vehicles that combine inventive art experimentation with playful entertainment.
Even more than for their traditional-theatre counterparts, the success of these shows has relied on the strength of the performing ensemble. Panti Bliss was an early collaborator, for instance, and their recent hit show Wake featured several standout performances by the likes of Lisette Krol, award-winning pole aerialist, and the choreographer Philip Connaughton.
There was, however, another key addition to the impressive roster of talent arrayed by Wake: Emer Dineen, a performing artist of Cork extraction raised in the UK. Dineen’s star turn consisted of the character of DJ Duncan, a hapless, lovable Londoner with a flair for audience interaction. Riding high off this success, Dineen now takes centre stage in 0800 Cupid.
Thisispopbaby’s new show starts the moment that people begin to filter into the auditorium. A three-piece outfit of keyboards and drums – played by Tom Beech, Osazee Aiguokhian and Michael McCarthy – stoke anticipation with an ambient disco melody. After some rousing fanfare from the crowd, Cupid, Dineen’s alter ego, appears onstage, which has now been transformed into Pinky’s, a London drag club. Cupid delivers an energetic anthem that boasts of the singer’s prodigious talent in all things related to love, until the moment that they’re interrupted by a phone call: Tanya, Emer’s girlfriend, is on the line, and she wants to end their relationship.
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This unceremonious break-up leads to a series of biographical episodes, narrated by Dineen, taking place in the city over a few short weeks. It also sets the tone for what is to come: 0800 Cupid has plenty of handclapping and high-camp fantasy, but at its core is a heartfelt and moving piece of musical theatre that deals with family illness, grief and profound existential alienation.
Dineen is an incredible talent. She is the show’s author: she wrote the scenes, the dialogue, the songs and the lyrics, and she composed the music with Beech. Every one of these contributions requires a different set of artistic skills and sensitivities, yet Dineen pulls them together with virtuosic dexterity. She is also a consummate performer: her voice has real range, at times soaring through power ballads, at others quiet and introspective, and she carries the dramatic episodes effortlessly, able to navigate humour and sorrow with natural ease.
That said, her partners onstage – the only other speaking performers – are pivotal to the success of the show. Isabel Adomakoh Young and Carl Harrison deftly cycle through multiple costumes and characters, all while meeting the prodigious demands placed on their own singing and dancing capabilities. High points include Adomakoh Young’s diva-like embodiment of the universe, and Harrison’s sincerely warming portrayal of Bill the beekeeper.
Entertaining in every way. I laugh and cry: what more could you ask?
Continues at Project Arts Centre, as part of Dublin Theatre Festival, until Saturday, October 5th
