Bigger isn’t always better
 By
Richard Purden
The Irish curse
The Irish Curse is almost like a male version of The Vagina Monologues.
Tied up with the size of these characters’ mini-man-hoods are man-sized
dilemmas.
Set in a Queens Church in New York, the set references the conventions
of addiction counselling and the Catholic Church.
These dysfunctional characters reveal their innermost struggles to each
other, while chaired by a personable priest in the shadow of an ever-present
crucifix.
Former Brookside actor Jason Kavanagh plays the only first generation
Irishman in the play among a group of Irish/American Catholics. His character
Kieran Rile is the most interesting.
He is shocked by revelations of a gay cop, not because he is gay but because
his story reeks of self-loathing, and to his credit, rather than just
ignore the experience, he challenges it.
Rile challenges each man’s view of themselves and each other. At
times the play gets a bit carried away with itself when one of the weaker
characters blames every war and major catastrophe of the last 100 years
on the size of male genitals.
At this point the drive of the story seemed to get lost and the audience
stopped caring. Kavanagh has charisma but his acting is too ham-handed
to pull off the depth of emotion required for this role.
The writing lacks sophistication and the jokes are just a little too obvious.
The Irishness of this play lacks authenticity playing on tired clichés
and platitudes.
It relies on anachronism rather than saying something new or interesting
about Irish culture and what Irish masculinity represents in America today.
The Irish Curse from Theatre 28 Productions was performed at the
recent Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It will next run at the King’s
Head Theatre, London
from January 16, 2007 for a strictly limited season prior to tour.
For more information, go to www.theatre28.co.uk/ |
