Ballyturk by Enda Walsh starring Cilian Murphy, Mike Murfi and Stephen Rea has opened at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin.
What do you mean you ‘weren’t invited to the first night’?
Neither were we.
However…
Victoria Mary Clarke writes:
“I once went to see Nicole Kidman in a play in the Donmar Warehouse. I remember only two things about it. One is that she was totally naked on stage, and the other is that someone offered me a thousand pounds for my ticket. But I did not sell it. I simply had to get in to that play, I needed to have been there.
Ballyturk is currently generating this kind of frisson. It stars Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea, it is directed by Enda Walsh, who cares what it’s about? Who cares if it turns out to be boring? Or plotless? (as a playwright friend suggests it will be) You get to see Cillian Murphy in his underpants a lot, and they are practically see-through. The Olympia is jammed, and the audience does not look like regular theatre goers.
Domhnall Gleeson is sitting next to us. He accepts a Malteser, but refuses to lend us his programme in return, because he feels that we should allow the play to happen without any pre-conceptions about it.
He is right. I have absolutely no clue what the play is about when we sit down and half way through I still have no idea what is happening nor can I predict what will happen in the end.
But it is not plotless. Neither is it boring. It is in fact quite the opposite. It is one of the best plays I have ever seen. It is mesmerising. It has the surreal comedy of Flann O Brien and the pacing and theatrical genius of Martin McDonagh, but it is also tragic and brutal. Every human emotion is here, and you will not escape any of them. A chap next to us runs out sobbing.
It would be wrong for me to reveal any of the story. Suffice it to say that the play is magnificent in every way that a play can be magnificent. The acting, the directing, the lighting, the sound, the costumes, all are superb. And Cillian Murphy can be seen in his underpants.”
Blimey.
Ballyturk at the Olympia (Olympia)
Pic: Patrick Redmond
Saw it in Galway. It’s utterly brilliant. What is it about? Not a clue but that’s why I loved it.
yeah, I saw the play. it’s not magnificent. it’s ok.
Might skip this, I hate the Olympia :(
Should he take his underpants off first though? Are they magic-Mormon underpants? Is Spongebob in there too? Did the monkey get a baitin’? These are all important questions!
On an aside… £1,000 or Nicole Kidman naked….. I’ll have the £1,000 please and I’ll rent Eyes Wide Shut, thanks.
I would totally pay a thousand quid to sit next to Domhnall Gleeson and be lectured on how to watch a play.
Did they do a ginger clone of Cillian Murphy for it?
She loves Irish boll*cks in a transparent package? No wonder she thinks Martin McDonagh is a genius.
HA.
(I secretly love those plays though, I can’t help it, they are a great spectacle.)
Me too. The Beauty Queen of Leenan, perfect example of sow eating her farrow. Like it or not, they throw a dramatic spotlight on Irish life.
Haha.
A literary “review” which focuses on the actor’s underpants and disregards the storyline and plot?
Is this Sex and the City?
Well it sure beats reading Peter Crawley.
Please, ‘that’ over ‘which’ for a restrictive relative clause. The irony.
It’s a descriptive clause, not a restrictive clause. There is only one review in question and this comment is telling us something about it, not identifying a particular example from a selection of reviews.
Ahem.
A descriptive clause is a non-restrictive clause, which this clearly is not. The clause in question gives information essential to establishing the identity of the antecedent (the review).
If it was a descriptive clause, it would be set off with commas.
If you challenge me on this again, I’ll come and physically beat you.
Wow… I thought I was a grammar nazi. I have a lot to learn!
FFS, Bob. How many times do you need to be told?!? It’s *much* to learn, not *a lot*. Jesus.
Jesus was a grammar Nazi? I would never of guessed that.
Grammar nazis are usually wrong. Grammar “rules” are attempts to describe how people actually speak, not rules on how they should speak and what constitutes a mistake. It’s like giving out to objects travelling near the speed of light for not obeying Newton’s laws.
Another brain cell of Macgowan firmly erased.
Enda Walsh tried to break my leg in a “friendly” game of footie in Albert College back in the early ’90s. so I for one shall not be in attendance.
But they always tell actors to ‘break a leg’ before a performance.
My mother went to this earlier this week and she confirmed that at no point did she (or anyone else in the audience) have even the faintest clue what was going on. However she thought it was magnificent as did everyone else present.
It could be a work of genius but I think a case of prolonged mass hysteria must at least be considered as an explanation.
Actually, it sounds to me as if Irish audiences are open to enjoying non-linear, surreal entertainment that doesn’t conform to popular conventions, though perhaps the theatrical setting helps.
Saw the play last week. Frickin brilliant so it is. Highly recommend going if any of you get a chance
It opened last week, not this week and is fantastic.
I saw Jude Law naked on stage once on Broadway*
I was at the front.. I could have done with binoculars. :)
If someone offered me a tenner, I’d have given them the tickets, on reflection.
(*Yes, I holiday in N.Y. sometimes. Don’t hate me)
Hate you, Anne? I think everyone here secretly loves you.
I make no secret of it. Who do you think left the bottle of Jacob’s Creek in her windowbox? It was in a bottle bag and everything.
I didnt know that you had left that. I took a quick swig on my way out – to cleanse the palate, you know. Hope you didn’t mind.
You have broke an honest heart.
Two. :(
Went to see it also last night…and saw Domhnall Gleeson from afar!
It really is a great play, totally bonkers, but a great play. The performances were amazing and it must have taken some amount of stamina to keep it up. Like it or hate it, it will certainly make you think.
Saw it last night, it’s fierce impressive alright. Loved it.
Eyes Wide Shut was a whole basket of cringe even without the special treat of seeing Nicole Kidman peeing
@Iseult True… I’ve never managed to sit through more than 20 mins of it :)
That’s an impressively long wee.