It is the eve of young Carl's 12th birthday and author Liam Meagher lands us inside Carl's head, just behind his eyes, where a gang of gaily-clad sensors (Oculus, Niff, Watt, Yumm and Tactos) works under the general co-ordination of Mr Thalamus to keep Carl's senses in touch with what's going on in the world, while a gang of blue boiler-suited mechanics keeps the brain ticking over as smoothly as they can. We are taken from waking up on the morning of Friday, January 28th, 2000, through the downloading of some new ideas (notably the garrulously enthusiastic Up, dressed in white, and the sinister Down garbed in black leather - the first eager anticipation, perhaps, and the second, dread and foreboding).
Under this fantastical construction we join Carl for his first romantic stirrings, his sparring with his best friend Bigsy, the first time he is tentatively approached by an attractive young lady, his sparring with his elder sister, his winning of the school under-14s football match, his fight with the young lady's possessive boy-friend, and his birthday visit to the disco. Some of it we see on well-shot video through the apertures that are Carl's eyes. Some of it we experience through the frantic activities of Mr Thalamus's team of sensors and mechanics reacting to the turmoil of, for instance, an unexpected nightmare.
In Dermot Quinn's labyrinthine setting of an organic-looking bridge on some kind of space ship, this is an ingenious and imaginative production under the direction of Ben Hennessy with excellent lighting by Paul Browne, although the elaborate sound design by Dave Curran and Jamie Beamish is sometimes too muffled and sometimes too loud for clarity. Brian de Salvo is the affable Mr Thalamus. Brian Doherty and Donagh Deeney are the enigmatic Up and Down, respectively, and Joanna Crawford, Paul Carroll, Garry Forristal, Sile Penkert and Joe Meagher the turbulent Sensors. Christopher Dunne is the developing Carl and Jack Doyle Ryan his spritely side-kick Bigsy, Sharon Daly and Emma Tallon the ladies in their lives and James Sullivan the jealous enemy.
They, and the rest of the cast of 36 of all ages and talents, received an instant and sustained standing ovation for Little Red Kettle.
Runs until Saturday, March 11th; to book phone 051 871111.
