The second of Tara Maria Lovett's one-act plays is now at the Focus, and it confirms the impression of an original, drama-orientated talent made by her first.
The Shape opens with an obviously eccentric man praying to a statue of the Virgin perched on top of his TV set. His words are all about sin and reparation, repeated invocations to be spared the fires of hell. He is waiting for someone, and talks to a pet bird in a cage hidden by coloured cloths.
His visitor duly arrives, an inspector chasing up TV licences - but he knows better. She is, he believes, an angel, come to help him expiate a monstrous sin of the past. He detains her forcibly while he engages in a rehearsed ritual which takes a few odd turns. Suspense is a key element of the drama, maintained to the ending.
The theme of a subnormal man in trouble due to dimly-understood sexual drives is hardly new to fiction, but the author's flair for the grotesque, rooted in native Irish aberrations, gives her story sufficient individuality and depth to avoid cliche. Ciaran Walsh is excellent as the disturbed man; Lorraine Horgan's woman caller is written as little more than a foil to him, but she plays it well. Ann Russell Weakley directs with control.
Runs until September 16th at 1.05 p.m.; to book phone 01-6763071
