When the first multi-ethnic hurling team in Ireland reaches the championship final in the Barabbas theatre company's Hurl, the national anthem is yet another obstacle in its path to glory.
As the team members mumble their way through the (Irish language) words before lapsing into an enthusiastic roar, the Galway arts festival audience cheers in recognition: very few Irish people know the words either.
Writer Charlie O'Neill and director Raymond Keane play with every kind of national stereotype in this ambitious ensemble piece, which, at one level, is a celebration of the energy and grace of "the best and fastest game in the world".
The physical inventiveness in which Barabbas specialises has found an ideal subject, and the hurling scenes, performed by six agile actors, are beautifully choreographed by David Bolger. Lighting and sound design (by John Comiskey, Brian Fleming and Gwenn Frin) create dynamic dance sequences and arresting tableaux, framed by Robert Ballagh's illuminated goalpost set.
Off the pitch, however, things are less certain. The protracted narration is passed between the characters in the manner of breathless hurling commentators. The early scenes, in which the team members confront local suspicion and racism and enlist the support of Lofty, an alcoholic ex-priest (Eamonn Hunt), are repetitive and predictable.
The plot seems to work against the choreographed sequences, dissipating the energy and slowing everything down, telling instead of showing. The large theme of a society in transition becomes less implicit and more didactic as the play proceeds.
The script veers awkwardly between parodying media and political clichés and moralising about the need to embrace change, while Keane's direction oscillates between humour and sentimentality. "Hurling was always an immigrant game," Lofty says, delivering a potted history of the Celts' contribution to Ireland. He lectures us about the team playing for love, innocence and madness and that "miracles are the natural order". Like many hurling performances, this one would have been better without the commentary.
