Reviews

Everyone loves a happy ending and A Midsummer Night’s Dream gives us not one but three. Maybe that’s the reason Shakespeare’s comedy has been so popular for over 400 years. The combination of fairies, rustics and lovers has been irresistible to choreographers for decades and Liam Scarlett’s new vision of their escapades has all of the magic of a master conjurer.

The source material for this enduring play is Choderlos de Laclos’ novel, Les Liaisons Dangerous, first published in 1782.  It is a tale of deceit, betrayal, hypocrisy and sex games among the French aristocracy.  Although frequently banned, the novel has been in print ever since, probably because the world and people don’t change that much – and the baroque trappings, the lace and the stays, and the amorality of these 18th century aristos all enable us to contemplate these vices with some objectivity.  And it has an implicit feminist argu

Adapted from the original book of Siobhan McHugh, Minefields & Miniskirts represents the reminiscences and experiences of the Vietnam War of five different women from various walks of life.

Originally produced and directed by Terrence O’Connell in 2004, it gives us a look inside these women – retelling real stories about real people who crossed their paths in Vietnam during the conflict.

Kate Dehnert (another Moosehead and RAW Comedy winner) hurls herself into her show with a manic, frenetic energy that is curiously vulnerable and engaging.  She boogies, she rants, she speaks in different voices.  She doesn’t let up.  Only for scant moments do we see what might be the ‘real’ Kate Dehnert behind the manic screen.  What’s intriguing and what grips your attention for her fifty or so minutes is the contrast and tension between the mode of delivery, the absurdist humour and the dry, bleak satire in the material.