Madam, - It was with equal measures of disbelief and dismay that I read Fintan O'Toole's review of The Story of the Bull. His uncritical adulation, bordering on sycophancy, beggars belief of a production that was simultaneously crude, lewd and gratuitous in its aimless displays of coarse language, male nudity and violence.
Had there been any real dramatic or theatrical cohesion underpinning the production, the egregious assault on the senses might have made some sense. Instead, we were presented with a cast of mediocre performances (the normally excellent Olwyn Fouéré being, in my opinion, oddly miscast), stomping, shrieking and preening their way through what was often a tasteless and offensive piece of work.
Gorgeous fun? Mordantly witty social commentary? Try telling that to any overworked nurse in any of our hospital A&E Departments. Mr O'Toole's breathless hyperbole would appear, on this occasion, to reflect an inability to see through the theatrical hype. The only true irony lay in the title, the Bull being, in my opinion, the greatest load of bull to sully the Irish stage in many a long year. - Yours, etc,
ANNE LARDNER, Kimmage, Dublin 12.