10 Questions About…

On Saturday Patrick and I saw two plays. Well actually I saw two plays – Patrick saw a movie and a play.

First we met at Bewley’s for lunch. Bewley’s is kind of an institution in Ireland. (Side note: one time years ago, Sinead O’Connor talked to us at Bewley’s.) Then I went to Trinity to see James Son of James. (See the picture of Patrick at Trinity below – by the tree.)

James Son of James was amazing! It’s the story of a man who comes home to Ireland (from Abu Dhabi) for his father’s funeral. While he’s in Ireland he touches the lives of his entire community. He saves the life of the merchant’s daughter. He helps the policeman’s wife get pregnant through breathing exercises. He helps the farmer meet and marry the foreigner. Everyone loves him and he seems like a very good guy – but then things start to fall apart. Just as the community credited him with their good luck they start to blame him for their bad luck.

(Spoiler alert) The final straw is when James is framed for a burglary. He is arrested and killed.

The staging was very visual – not elaborate but creative. The actors were dancers and the scenes were very well choreographed and fun to watch. The play was a musical and the songs were very upbeat with a retro flair.

It was fun to see this as part of the festival as so many themes were mirrored in other shows. The connection between this and the Playboy of the Western World were clear – especially with the festival production of Playboy where the visitor was also the only black actor on stage. Although in this play James brings a whole new morality to the community and in Playboy the visitor lacked morality.

One of the best characters in James was the wife of the politician – and she was very much like Lady Macbeth. She is the one who underwrites her husband’s career and is the only who orchestrates the killing of James. The actress who played her was so good. She looked like a super skinny Parker Posey – and she had a very quirky way of moving.

Anyways – it was a great show.

Then we walked around Dublin. We went to a couple of art galleries. I bought a cute new dress (on sale!).We had dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant – way too much food. And at 10:00 we went to see The Grand Inquisitor.

The Grand Inquisitor was directed by Peter Brooks – a big time director. I remember reading a book of his in college (maybe The Empty Space.) It reenacts a scene from The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. Patrick happened to meet him earlier in the day.

The play was very good, very intense. I was very tired. The other pictures below are from the park near St Patrick’s Cathedral and by Mother Redcaps – I used to work at a cafe in the market there. It’s closed now.