- Chris ORourke
Dublin Fringe Festival 2018: A Line Of O'Kane
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Waltz Tango Foxtrot
If you don’t know your tango from your Vietnamese Waltz, or your oestrogen from your collagen, a quick snort of “A Line Of O’Kane” will have you sorted lads in no time. And have you snorting, chuckling, and laughing out loud as Deirdre O’Kane spills the beans on her behind the scenes antics on Dancing With The Stars.
But not before a tight warm-up set from the hugely impressive Gearoid Farrelly. Immediately taking the audience's pulse, Farrelly’s mildly bitchy complaints win over the room from the get-go and never lets it go. Venting about kids, moving in with his partner, and adopting a three legged greyhound, Farrelly proves to be simply irresistible.
As is the always impressive Deirdre O’Kane. If “A Line Of O’Kane’s” primary focus is on O’Kane’s Waltz Tango Foxtrot am I doing on this dancing show with supermodels, nineteen year olds, and relatives of celebrities sixteen times removed, that’s no reason for the uninitiated to feel excluded. Granted, those with the inside track on the show’s Russian disciplinarian, speed jiving, and perma-smiles, will obviously get it on a whole other level. But O’Kane ensures that even if you’ve never heard of the show you’ll still come away laughing at her ups and downs on the dance floor. On top of which O’Kane frequently flings her anecdotal net further afield, shifting easily into asides about Nathan Carter song lyrics and Debbie McGee’s…age, or tell-tale anecdotes about Oedipal sons, unwashed daughters, and husbands with whatever prescription drugs you fancy. Always, O’Kane’s timing and easy delivery are a delight, as is her superb mimicry of the famous and the not so famous.
Deirdre O’Kane might well have been one of the first Irish, female, stand-up comics. “A Line Of O’Kane” reminds us that she’s still one of the best.
“A Line Of O’Kane” by Deirdre O’Kane runs as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2018 at Smock Alley Theatre until September 22
For more information, visit Smock Alley Theatre or Dublin Fringe Festival 2018
