Paul O'Hanrahan has written and staged several James Joyce adaptations, but this version of Finnegans Wake is his most accomplished to date. He has constructed a two-handed show around the numerous warring pairs who appear in Joyce's "wholesale safety pun factory", and distilled the whole into 20 or so brief scenes. O'Hanrahan is a capering, impish incarnation of the rogues of the piece, and Donal O'Kelly (also in Bat The Father, Rabbit The Son at the Assembly Rooms) complements him both physically and dramatically as a more stolid antagonist. A minimal set and sensitive music (by John Dunne) create a production that is hip, clever and entertaining.
Written for The Independent.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.
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