The Arts Review​

Ross Fitzpatrick and Molly Mew in Hot Mess. Image Isabel Hamilton ** In some respects Hot Mess lives up to its name. TeoChroí Company’s production of Ella Hickson ’s troubled script guilty of sloppy errors. Issues with low vocal projection, entrances, exits, positioning and pace proving compositionally clunky. Yet most errors are the result of inexperience and stuttering confidence. Of a new theatre company testing the waters a little before their time. Needing to start some

Ed McVey in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Imagew by Mark Senior. ** Proof that love is blind is painfully evident in Mark Leipacher’s adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. A labour of love blinded by its love for Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 psychological thriller. In which a talented conman is sent to Italy to persuade the wayward son of a rich, American family to return home. Only to discover that lies lead to lies, murder to murders, and all manner of deceptions lead to a somewh

Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty and Kate Gilmore in The Plough and the Stars. Image: Ros Kavanagh. *** In response to inquiries as to why I didn’t review The Abbey’s centenary opening of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars , it’s a fascinating story, for another day perhaps. Today there’s more immediate matters. Including a powerful sense of déjà vu. Of another revival we have to ask did we really need given so many in recent years? The Abbey opting for another big cast, Irish