Reviews
Passing On
“Go see this one – you’ll not regret it. If it can move someone with a cold, cynical heart like myself close to tears, then it is clearly worth checking out.”
Midnight Murphy
Last night I went to see ‘Passing on’ at the Teachers’ Club – my latest excursion to the 15thInternational Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. This was a co-production between the Acting Out theatre group and the Blue Heart Theatre company. Written by Sean Denyer and directed by Howard Lodge it tells the tale of a thirty-something gay couple Brian and Tom. Together for a decade they decide to venture into a brave new world – that of parenthood. Their friend Jane agrees to act as surrogate for the couple. There is a slight worry however. Having been adopted by his parents as a baby, Tom requests a background health check on his biological family – in case of any hereditary conditions; or potential health issues that might inform the decision as to which of the couple will be the sperm donor.
While waiting for the results of this genetics test, Jane falls pregnant. The lab results from the health check come back, turning their happy ever after reverie, into their worst nightmare.
This is a very interesting play exploring many complex issues – surrogacy; genetics; medical ethics; adoption; same sex parenting and euthanasia. The performances were strong and convincing by the lead actors Brian Gaughran (who plays the character of Brian as a rock of common sense and support) and Steve Kenneally (who gives a moving portrayal of Tom who should be looking forward to first time fatherhood with excitement but instead is facing a looming, potentially fatal health ordeal).
Rachel Fayne plays dual roles of the surrogate Jane (well-meaning but potentially intrusive) – and Mary (the outspoken, hilarious ‘howerya’ sister of Brian). The cast is completed by Shane Kavanagh who plays the doctor and social worker.
The set was a simple, with a threatening score playing in the background on the darkened stage, to indicate the narrative progression, with the lights coming up again as each chapter of the story unfolds.
The script was tight, moving at a good pace. I was engaged throughout the piece – it convincingly evoked the terror that a terminal illness can inflict. This was a thought provoking play and it’s easy to see why it has been included in the Gay Theatre Festival as well as the Brighton Fringe Festival next week.
Go see this one – you’ll not regret it. If it can move someone with a cold, cynical heart like myself close to tears, then it is clearly worth checking out.
https://midnightmurphy.wordpress.com/2018/05/17/theatrical-passing-on/#more-19855
“This is a very important piece of modern theatre, with the humanity of a loving relationship at its heart. It deserves to play to big audiences. Please go see it if you can.”
GScene Magazine
This heart-rending and passionate play is about a gay couple who for once are not facing issues surrounding Aids. This tragic tale of a married gay couple in Ireland centres on their heartfelt wish to have a baby through a surrogate mother, their lawyer friend Jane.
BUT ironically in planning for the future a terrible past is uncovered for Tom, played by Steve Kenneally, and that past leads to the central theme of life, death, guilt, anger and overpowering grief.
This is not a show for the faint-hearted. But written sensitively and in very down to earth language by Sean Denyer, and staged by the Dublin-based award-winning LGBT theatre group Acting Out and Blue Heart Theatre, it investigates the ins and outs of gay parenting in a highly entertaining if dark mood.
In trying to find his biological parents, Tom discovers he has the incurable Huntington’s disease , inherited from his now-dead mother.
The play’s interest is in the working out of this tragedy amid the joy of the birth of their son, and Brian, played by Brian Gaughran is a passionate foil to Tom’s fatalistic view of life.
The play progresses in very short episodes which are occasionally out of time sequence and I wonder if the language couldn’t be heightened slightly to poeticise the tragedy and help us distance ourselves from it. As it is written it is a very difficult piece to sit through calmly and there were many tear-creating moments.
What carries the piece is the wonderful chemistry between the two main actors who go through every emotion possible in a highly believable and electrically charged performance.
Preparing ourselves for one tragedy, we are ultimately faced with an unexpected turn of events which I won’t reveal.
This is a very important piece of modern theatre, with the humanity of a loving relationship at its heart. It deserves to play to big audiences. Please go see it if you can.
Passing On is at Sweet Werks 1, in Middle Street until May 24.
https://www.gscene.com/arts/theatre/fringe-review-passing-on-sweet-werks-1-2/
Couples+Pairs Brighton Fringe Festival
Link to full review below
The Tearing Up of Fergal went some way to drawing the audience in, with Higgins once more playing a gay character to Mike Kunze’s ex-lover. The observations of a relationship in the throws of a break-up were highlighted in a tender and amusing way, with the acting matching the awkwardness of the situation. The couple arguing over the possession of books with the words “yours or mine?” gave a poignant resonance to the ending.
With First Impressions, Missed Connections the quality of the writing really ramped up with performances to match. Kunze and Denyer playing an ever improving Groundhog Day date with two chairs, a table and a bell was five minutes of brilliance. From then on, the rest of the astutely observed, cleverly written and beautifully performed plays got better and better. Joanne Ryan’s understated but OCD riddled character in Icarus was a pleasure to watch, equally matched by Denyer’s honest and sensitive portrayal of her patient lesbian lover.
The final piece, Baggage, completely captured the complexity of finding love in a Tinder dominated twenty first century with the audience letting out an audible sigh of appreciation at the sweetly sentimental conclusion.
Link to full review below.
http://broadwaybaby.com/shows/couples-pairs/718422
The Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim by Sean Denyer
Fronting/The Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim *****
This very fine double bill serves up an appetiser featuring a gay couple’s attempt to have a civilised break-up, and for the main course there’s a new play from Scotland about living with HIV.
The Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim: Great insight and humourThe Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim shows the powerful potential of the short play, something which we see too little of, but which has become something of a specialty for Blue Heart Theatre. In this finely written piece by Sean Denyer, we understand exactly why Fergal and Tim have fallen apart, but crucially, why they got together in the first place. It captures, with great insight and humour, the huge and sometimes overwhelming lurches in emotions and inadvertent comedy involved in a break-up. The build up to Tim’s eventual destruction of Fergal’s favourite book of poetry is brilliantly paced by the two actors, Mike Kunze and Brian Higgins, (a former winner of the Best Actor prize at this festival), who both give wonderfully nuanced performances. Sometimes and it’s definitely true in this case, less can be more.
This very fine double bill serves up an appetiser featuring a gay couple’s attempt to have a civilised break-up, and for the main course there’s a new play from Scotland about living with HIV.
The Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim: Great insight and humourThe Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim shows the powerful potential of the short play, something which we see too little of, but which has become something of a specialty for Blue Heart Theatre. In this finely written piece by Sean Denyer, we understand exactly why Fergal and Tim have fallen apart, but crucially, why they got together in the first place. It captures, with great insight and humour, the huge and sometimes overwhelming lurches in emotions and inadvertent comedy involved in a break-up. The build up to Tim’s eventual destruction of Fergal’s favourite book of poetry is brilliantly paced by the two actors, Mike Kunze and Brian Higgins, (a former winner of the Best Actor prize at this festival), who both give wonderfully nuanced performances. Sometimes and it’s definitely true in this case, less can be more.
COCK by Mike Bartlett
"The storyline was enthralling, and the dialogue tart and witty........Cock sends the audience on an emotional roller-coaster. From laughing at witty one liners to almost crying at the confusion and hurt that the characters are experiencing; happiness when we finally think John might make up his mind, and despair when John returns to where his bread is buttered-back in his comfort zone."
Anita Byrne in PureM
Click on link below to access full review
Couples+Pairs by Margaret Perry, Brian Higgins, Mike Kunze, Erica Murray and Sean Denyer
'The five pieces pack a tenaciously realistic punch, and they're quite splendidly performed by the company ensemble'
Emer O'Kelly- Sunday Independent
Take five playlets themed on love: it's unlikely that they will all work. Except, in the Blue Heart Theatre company's presentation of Couples+Pairs at Theatre Upstairs, in Lanigan's bar on Eden Quay in Dublin, they do.
Erica Murray's Baggage gives us a mix-up when a woman mistakes a solitary man in a bar for the agency- date she's expecting to meet. And five minutes later, we all have big smiles on our faces: whatever your baggage, with a bit of luck there's someone out there for you.
In Modern Romantic, by Brian Higgins, a woman confides that after her break-up, the search for Mr Right turned into a search for Mr Anyone. But a hopeful start ends up with "Never the time and the place" when the man in the picture knows they "won't be back for seconds".
Sean Denyer's The Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim portrays a pair of gay men dividing up the books when they split up after years together. After all, they haven't had sex for a year, and they've both been seeing others on the sly; so what's the point? But the shared past keeps butting in….
First Impressions, Missed Connections by Mike Kunze has a laid-back man and a frantic woman at a speed-dating session, with the outside world having a nasty habit of intruding through the ubiquitous cell-phone.
And we finish with Icarus, with a lesbian couple managing to mix chalk and cheese into a tremulously successful bake despite their wildly dissimilar childhoods and life experiences.
The five pieces pack a tenaciously realistic punch, and they're quite splendidly performed by the company ensemble, Niamh Denyer, Brian Higgins, Aisling Flynn and Mike Kunze, with direction by Kunze, Ayrton O'Brien and Howard Lodge.
Music is provided by Cal Folger Day linking the pieces with standards from the easy-listening romantic repertoire; and the lighting is by Colm Horan.
The full review in the Sunday Independent
Emer O'Kelly- Sunday Independent
Take five playlets themed on love: it's unlikely that they will all work. Except, in the Blue Heart Theatre company's presentation of Couples+Pairs at Theatre Upstairs, in Lanigan's bar on Eden Quay in Dublin, they do.
Erica Murray's Baggage gives us a mix-up when a woman mistakes a solitary man in a bar for the agency- date she's expecting to meet. And five minutes later, we all have big smiles on our faces: whatever your baggage, with a bit of luck there's someone out there for you.
In Modern Romantic, by Brian Higgins, a woman confides that after her break-up, the search for Mr Right turned into a search for Mr Anyone. But a hopeful start ends up with "Never the time and the place" when the man in the picture knows they "won't be back for seconds".
Sean Denyer's The Tearing Up of Fergal and Tim portrays a pair of gay men dividing up the books when they split up after years together. After all, they haven't had sex for a year, and they've both been seeing others on the sly; so what's the point? But the shared past keeps butting in….
First Impressions, Missed Connections by Mike Kunze has a laid-back man and a frantic woman at a speed-dating session, with the outside world having a nasty habit of intruding through the ubiquitous cell-phone.
And we finish with Icarus, with a lesbian couple managing to mix chalk and cheese into a tremulously successful bake despite their wildly dissimilar childhoods and life experiences.
The five pieces pack a tenaciously realistic punch, and they're quite splendidly performed by the company ensemble, Niamh Denyer, Brian Higgins, Aisling Flynn and Mike Kunze, with direction by Kunze, Ayrton O'Brien and Howard Lodge.
Music is provided by Cal Folger Day linking the pieces with standards from the easy-listening romantic repertoire; and the lighting is by Colm Horan.
The full review in the Sunday Independent
The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
Selected as a "Don't Miss" by the Sunday Business Post!
"This is a wonderful production of Vogel's play, acted excellently, never over done, and giving the serious tones their space and due, while allowing us to laugh along the way, showing off some great comedy skills. Blue Heart Theatre call themselves an 'exciting new company' - which they are showing themselves to be - with collaborators from Ireland, the UK and the USA, wanting to present hidden gems. Well, they have presented one here, creating a little gem. "
- The Red Curtain Review
Reviews
"This is a wonderful production of Vogel's play, acted excellently, never over done, and giving the serious tones their space and due, while allowing us to laugh along the way, showing off some great comedy skills. Blue Heart Theatre call themselves an 'exciting new company' - which they are showing themselves to be - with collaborators from Ireland, the UK and the USA, wanting to present hidden gems. Well, they have presented one here, creating a little gem. "
- The Red Curtain Review
Reviews
Tuesdays at Tescos by Emanuel Darley
Winner of the Best Actor Award at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2016
" As is the case for most one actor shows, it rises or falls on the quality of the central performance. Director Niamh Denyer and actor Brian Higgins know their craft. Higgins not only looks convincing but is totally plausible as someone who has completely transitioned from their designated gender to their true gender."
- Festival Reviews
Reviews
" As is the case for most one actor shows, it rises or falls on the quality of the central performance. Director Niamh Denyer and actor Brian Higgins know their craft. Higgins not only looks convincing but is totally plausible as someone who has completely transitioned from their designated gender to their true gender."
- Festival Reviews
Reviews
Icarus by Margaret Perry
Nominated for Best New Writing at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2016
" Perry explores, from start to maturity, a relationship between two women who are very different from each other in ways they do not know yet. Side-splittingly honest it starts off with that awkward first date, right through to discovering each other in ways that they could never had predicted. It’s incredibly well paced, with little hints dropped about something deeper and darker that’s to come, and the characters are fully rounded, incredibly likeable, and impeccably life-like.
When the crux comes, a difficult look at how mental health is dealt with within the context of a relationship, it becomes a heartbreakingly beautiful piece. Touching, grounded, and sensitive, it’s severe and upsetting, but turns into an utter triumph of love and understanding. I laughed, I cried, and I left elated.
There’s some wonderful direction here, too, especially with how distance between characters is toyed with throughout, mirroring a definite growth and change in style in the actual writing and dialogue, paralleling the relationship being played out on stage."
- Festival Reviews
Reviews
" Perry explores, from start to maturity, a relationship between two women who are very different from each other in ways they do not know yet. Side-splittingly honest it starts off with that awkward first date, right through to discovering each other in ways that they could never had predicted. It’s incredibly well paced, with little hints dropped about something deeper and darker that’s to come, and the characters are fully rounded, incredibly likeable, and impeccably life-like.
When the crux comes, a difficult look at how mental health is dealt with within the context of a relationship, it becomes a heartbreakingly beautiful piece. Touching, grounded, and sensitive, it’s severe and upsetting, but turns into an utter triumph of love and understanding. I laughed, I cried, and I left elated.
There’s some wonderful direction here, too, especially with how distance between characters is toyed with throughout, mirroring a definite growth and change in style in the actual writing and dialogue, paralleling the relationship being played out on stage."
- Festival Reviews
Reviews
awards
Brighton Fringe Festival
Shortlisted for Best New Play, Brighton Fringe 2018 for, Passing On.
International Gay Dublin Theatre Festival
IGDTF Awards Press Release
Shortlisted for Best New Play, Brighton Fringe 2018 for, Passing On.
International Gay Dublin Theatre Festival
- Micheal Mac Liammoir Award for Best Male Performance - Brian Higgins, Tuesdays at Tesco WINNER
- Oscar Wilde Award for Best New Writing - Map Perry, Icarus NOMINEE
- Doric Wilson for Intercultural Dialogue - Blue Heart Theatre, Tuesdays at Tesco NOMINEE
IGDTF Awards Press Release