Inspired by the 16th century drama by Portuguese playwright Antonio Ferreira, and the epic poem of the same period by the poet and playwright Luis de Camoens, John Clifford's 1989 play re-tells the story of how Ines de Castro, Spanish mistress of the Crown Prince of Portugal, was killed, along with her three children, for "political" reasons.
The language is simple and clear, but not quite fluid enough in this production to make for persuasive dialogue, unless it was the intention of the director, Judith Roberts, to keep the words as formal and distancing as her very spare staging of the piece. Despite the fact that both Ferreira and Camoens wrote for avowedly nationalistic reasons, there is no sense of place in this production, and precious little sense of character. The actors are not so much real persons as ciphers and, as such, not very emotionally engaging.
Caitriona Ni Murchu's mellifluous Ines is a hopeless romantic apparently unable to comprehend political realities and strangely unmoved even when the severed heads of two of her children are brought to her in a blood-stained sack. Miche Doherty is the suavely assertive assassin, Pacheco, and Elliott Huston has a couple of upstanding moments as the dithering and probably dishonest King of Portugal. Ann Sheehy's nurse comes closest to seeming like a real person with feelings, and Aoife McMorrough Kavanagh occasionally drips a little ironic vitriol as the spurned Crown Princess - while Robert Shaw-Smith makes a vacuously dashing Crown Prince. Nicola Kilkenny provides costumes which simply suggest the period of the play, and Brian Rudden's lighting is oppressively dim and patchy.
Runs until November 18th (matinee in aid of Women's Aid on Thursday, November 9th). To book phone at 018729977.