In Dublin-based radio drama company Crazy Dog Audio Theatre's stage debut, Roger Gregg retells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from a pop-psychological perspective, dubbing it an archetypical "dysfunctional relationship".
This is a wilfully peculiar take on one of history's greatest love stories, one of many aspects of this baggy adaptation whose logic might be evident to the creators, but is not well-communicated.
We start out in the underworld, as Orpheus meets Hades and Persephone, and tells them his life story, staged as flashback. He goes crusading with Jason and the Argonauts, then is discovered by the drunken satyr Silenus, here wittily reinterpreted by Morgan Jones as a venal music agent. Orpheus's transformation into a leather-trousered rock star brings us to the production's central problem: there is little point in staging a play about a man with a golden voice if your lead actor (David Murray) can barely sing. Gregg's compositions are weak as well, and the energy dips during the frequent musical numbers. The strongest aural element are live sound effects, obviously the company's forte.
Clever and energetic role-swapping by Jones and Karen Ardiff keep the first act lively, but the second sags as Gregg's innovations to the classic story increasingly strain credulity. Every scene goes on too long, adding to a sense of in-groupy silliness. Director Deirdre Molloy keeps the action quite clear, but there is little visual flair or interest. This may have worked better on radio.
· Until February 24. Box office: (353) 1 881 9613.
