Dublin Fringe Festival 2026: Welcome to Traumatraum
Welcome to Traumatraum. Image Al Craig
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Shouldn't we be allowed speak of physical trauma without having to speak of psychological trauma? Emotional trauma? Global trauma? Historical trauma? Trauma trauma? Post-trauma trauma? Isn't a lot of trauma talk dangerously normalising the overstating of harm as brilliantly diagnosed by Sarah Schulman in Conflict Is Not Abuse? What is trauma anyway? In the multi-disciplinary Welcome To Traumatraum, three interwoven, biographical tales explore how physical trauma impacts on lives and careers. Beginning with the charismatic writer Philip St John, who wanted to play for Ireland but was born with a club foot. Then there's dancer and choreographer Karen Gleeson, who struggled to overcome countless injuries. Finally, Lecoq-trained clown Michael McCabe, for whom back injuries could cripple a mind, body and career. All three, with co-creator and director Matthew Ralli, crafting a whirling dervish of magic and mayhem directed to perfection. With writing by St John and choreography by Gleeson, sharp dialogue and superb physicality brew up a storm of theatrical inventiveness evoking Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. Yet this Alice doesn't appear to want to attend the Mad Hatter's tea party.
Initially, action resembles a group therapy session from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Walking dully and aimlessly, McCabe, in clown regalia, along with Fiona Bawn-Thompson, Fiachra Corkery, Róisín Harten, Noni Stapleton and Matthew Williamson perform repeated movements as if holding private conversations with themselves, each barely aware of those next to them. A counter-clockwise spiral projected onto the back wall shows vague images suggesting the patients' meds, or mushrooms, have finally kicked in. Mushrooms more likely as they journey down a psychedelic rabbit hole where McCabe's Mad Hatter, one part Cabaret MC, one part circus ringmaster, leads his childlike troops on a journey through a now that isn't now. Only Harten's self-serious Alice doesn't want to play. Sitting in a martyred huff aside from the others most of the time, she relays her dancer's struggle as a distinctly separate choreographed story. Mayhem and choreography occasionally meeting, but more often looking in competition, even as such rare collaborations yield the most potent moments. The contrast creating tension but dividing audience focus. Harten looking less the team player so much as a dancer determined to have her solo. Meanwhile, everyone else parties through life's wilder side together.
It's not that either is better than the other. Both dance solo and comic collective prove equally sensational. Fiona Bawn-Thompson's extraordinarily detailed performance a masterclass in physical comedy. As is Fiachra Corkery, with the ever-brilliant Noni Stapleton lighting up every scene. The abundantly talented Matthew Williamson proves easy to hate; the renowned dancer and performer adding comic presence and timing to his impressive repertoire. McCabe also delights as a nervous Master of Insanities. Against which Gleeson's choreographic lexicon, developed in response to her own condition, is sensationally performed by a sensational Harten, elevating sequences from the stunning to the sublime. Body taut, strained, sensual; it pushes, jolts and snaps in resistance to Harten's frustrated urgings. Harten endlessly renegotiating its refusals, or becoming malleable like a plasticine model, or as weightless as a ragdoll. The whole profoundly rich and moving. Harten never less than mesmerising.
Yet when everything works together, greater richness and depth is achieved. As when the six cradle like a six-chambered heart, rising to perform a glorious dance sequence in which the interplay of leads shifts seamlessly. The distinction between experienced dancer and relative novice practically erased. Yet, too often, dance divides attention, pulling it from a hilarious rap routine, hints of rave, episodes of bullying or a superbly articulated teacher's race in Jamaica. Or else attention is pulled from dance and dancer. All the while projected animations add additional seasoning. Aside from the monotone Dr Karen, whose guided meditation is condescending, patronising and an utter waste of time.
Astonishingly imaginative and excitingly playful, Welcome To Traumatraum's shifting between three narratives asks for a little indulgence. Especially as its discussions on trauma prove a lot more fun. Stapleton and Bawn-Thompson's argument on the nature of trauma a comic battle to behold. If the final homecoming brings everyone together, it serves to remind you of the person affected by trauma. Of their trials, defeats, compromises and victories. Their pain, embarrassment, humiliation and rage. Yet it's their resilience, persistence, courage and acceptance you remember. And their utter joy in the preciousness of life when lived in the face of adversity.
Welcome to Traumatraum by Philip St John, presented by Philip St John, Karen Gleeson, Michael McCabe & Speckintime, runs as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2026 at Smock Alley Theatre till Sept 19.
For more information visit Dublin Fringe Festival 2026
