Britain and Ireland are working hard to love Jon Fosse. But it is not easy. Hailed by Le Monde as "the 21st-century Beckett", the emotional indirection of his dialogue and the spareness of his dramatic situations, we are told, evoke the wide-open spaces of his country. However, I can't help wondering if the cultural gulf between Fosse's world and our own is too wide.
Dublin's Rough Magic is lending its weight to the Fosse campaign with the English-language premiere of this 1999 play. Wisely, director Tom Creed's approach is to balance the culturally strange with the recognisable. The play's focus on family relations and the reassuringly familiar rhythms of Kim Dambaek's excellent translation create a strong bridge for Irish audiences.
The overall situation, however, is typically mysterious: a man and a woman meet in a graveyard and start an affair. As they depart, however, his parents arrive for a funeral, and the time period seems to jump forward by years. The overall action may chart the entire course of their relationship; or something more metaphysical may be going on, since it is strongly suggested that the woman represents death. Creed and designer Conor Murphy's beautiful physical production stresses the play's otherworldly qualities.
Fosse's point seems to link desire and narcissism, and to question the bonds that hold people together. Not new ideas, but certainly valid ones; in order for the play to really grip, however, it needs world-class performances and actors you can't take your eyes off. Creed's cast struggle to connect with each other, and to find traction in the often repetitive dialogue, but it is an uphill battle. The vaunted eroticism of the central relationship, in particular, does not convince.
· Until December 9. Box office: 00 353 1 881 9613.
