We stand in the place of our forefathers, A lineage of political prisoners, Prisoners persecuted by putrid people preaching poisonous propaganda and peddling pestilence.
Our crime?
A man burned to protest being ignored. We screamed and cried and we wept and mourned. We ripped up the street that was designed to suppress. I guess it was our fault the tank introduced our face to the ground.
They buried us. But because we were seeds, we grew.
Rory Moore is a member of Griese Youth Theatre in Co. Kildare and is a Young Critic for 2025.
This poem was inspired by the show “Nowhere” by Khalid Abdalla seen at Dublin Theatre Festival 2025.
On our last Young Critics trip to Cork, we went to see the surrealist, immersive, one man show called Scattered Sideways, written and performed by Will Flanagan. The show was confusing, dream-like, and as the name suggests, scattered feeling, in the most bizarrely effective way possible. I personally found it to be brilliant in its concept and execution alike. It managed to do an incredible amount of storytelling and character development, all with amazing messaging, in the hour we spent watching it.
The show, a mix of physical theatre, circus, poetry and film all in one, took us along a winding, confusing, yet interactive and engaging journey. While talking about it, it can be split into two main parts. The story, and the performance. Throughout the show, Will Flanagan inserted pieces of a story between the various scenes of poetry, circus performance and theatre. This story followed a goldfish, trapped in a tiny fishbowl, floating through a seemingly endless sea of polluted, murky water. It was told like a children’s fairytale, and chronicled the lonely life of the goldfish as he watched the world outside of his clean, safe fishbowl. The show was interrupted every few minutes to continue the story, which I thought broke it up in an effective manner. Without it, the moments of high strung tension would not have felt as important as they were with the slow, childlike story to bring the intensity to a halt between scenes.
The other side of the metaphorical coin was the performance aspect. We watched Will Flanagan as he executed a dozen performances, each one more intense and draining than the last. These included walking a tightrope, juggling and balancing towers of skittles on himself and on each other, a gorgeous light show, a spoken word poetry act, and much more. We followed the character as he desperately tried to impress his audience, us viewers, with bigger and more intense tricks and performances, while he battled to hold their attention. Throughout the show, projected, fast paced clips, intriguing sets and frantic sounds and noise all served to capture our gaze, while Will Flanagan’s character tried desperately to outshine it all and bring the attention back on to himself.
Each act served a different purpose and represented the different aspects of the struggle his character was experiencing while trying to keep up with the quick moving sensory nightmare of the world he was in. His acting was mostly physical, yet, without needing words he expressed impressive amounts of emotion through physical theatre and body language. At times it was hard to believe he wasn’t talking at all. It was so well done, it felt like I was getting a look inside the deepest, most vulnerable part of the characters soul, all without a single word being spoken.
Grey O’Brien is a member of WACT Youth Theatre in Co. Wexford and is a Young Critic for 2025
The Bród, The Bold, and The Beautiful was a physical theatre performance devised by the Quintessence theatre as a part of the local towns pride celebrations. They performed in An Táin Arts Centre on the 27th and 28th of June as a part of Dundalk pride events.
This play had a very minimal set consisting of only 3 chairs which were moved around to disclose the location of that scene, for example they used them to make a bus, lining up to face side stage and they created an image of a couch by pushing the three together.
The play explores the experience of 3 different queer people based in Ireland all of whom grew up in different times, therefore their journey through discovering and accepting their queer identity varied wildly.
One of them was a young adult in 1993 when the law causing homosexuality to be illegal was overturned and he had to deal with the homophobia which ran rampant at the time.
Another story explored was one of a queer woman, who was a young adult in 2015, who tried to help to get people to vote yes to the 2015 marriage referendum after she couldn’t see her girlfriend in the hospital because civil partnership didn’t allow the same rights as marriage does.
The last story was one of a queer person, in current day who was struggling with their gender identity and not feeling as though they belonged even in the LGBT community due to the transphobia which is so common these days. Their story explores personal acceptance and the exploration and change of relationship which occur when one partner is transgender, both binary and non binary.
These stories all started and concluded at the same place, Dublin pride. It opens with them all talking about their first pride and it closes with the three of them meeting at pride in 2024. They end up celebrating the change which has occurred and remembering the future changes that need to be made to make the world safe and inclusive for all queer people. This story was explored through several short monologues, scenes and movement sequence to explore each of the characters personal journeys.
My personal favourite scenes was when the queer woman was going door to door attempting to get people to vote yes in the referendum and having various positive, neutral and mostly negative interactions, she asks an older person would they be willing to vote yes and she responded she absolutely would as it was not her business to stand between two people who loved each other. I really enjoyed this scene as it was not only a really sweet moment but it was one where I could see what the lives and struggles of queer people was like in the generation above mine.
I really enjoyed this play as it explored such rich and interesting stories in a beautiful way. The lows and the sad parts of the play were matched with highs and funny sections which made almost everyone in the audience laugh. I fluctuated from crying to laughing to crying then laughing again throughout this play in the best possible way. I wish I could have seen this play again I loved it.
Alisha McGarrity is a member of M.A.D. Youth Theatre in Co. Louth and is a Young Critic for 2024.
Performed by Darragh McLoughlin, a Berlin based, Cork born performer, Stickman is what it says on the tin. A man and a stick. McLoughlin moves about the space with the stick, making different images and becoming new objects. A television in the background narrates everything, telling us what to see. At times, the stick is left alone on the stage. This might seem a bit boring or weird, but it’s executed brilliantly, leading us to believe that maybe the stick is the main character after all? Afterwards, there was a Q&A session where plenty of interesting questions were asked by the audience.
This piece really shows us how to delight in the simple things. To make theatre interesting, funny and entertaining we don’t need big sets, sparkly costumes or pyrotechnic displays. All you really need is one man, a stick and a bit of imagination. In some cases, you don’t even need the man! What’s interesting about Stickman is how it personifies inanimate objects like a stick or a TV. The audience feels a human connection to them and get a sense of their “personalities”. Despite there being only one man on stage, there are three or four “actors”. Using this McLoughlin plays with our trust. One thing says to believe something, the other says not to. As a result, we get an overarching sense of evil, who is to be trusted? Stickman’s “Mr. Bean-esque” lack of the spoken word undoubtedly lends itself well to and international audiences. Which suits a piece touring around the world!
Stickman is hilariously funny for all ages. Its style of comedy is relatable to young and old. Afterwards, McLoughlin remarked how he started performing Stickman two weeks after its initial conception, to see what works well with audiences. As a result, Stickman is a well-oiled machine with every joke, jest and gag going down a treat. Stickman is also extremely dramatic theatre. As I have mentioned, we are emotionally attached to the characters by the end, and to see their fates unravel at the end pulls at the heartstrings. A Romeo & Juliet for sticks and televisions!
Altogether, Stickman is a must see for all. It is laugh out loud funny, eye opening and not your usual theatre. A big thank you to Townhall Arts Centre Cavan for facilitating the performance, Youth Theatre Ireland for sponsoring the tickets and Darragh McLoughlin for taking time to answer our questions afterwards.
Dean Cahill
Dean Cahill is a member of POD Youth Theatre in Co. Cavan and was a Young Critic in 2023.
Wiktor Koper is a Young Critic for 2023 and chose to respond in a visual way to Trojans by Company Philip Connaughton in association with Once Off Productions seen at Cork Midsummer Festival June 2023.
Since joining Young Critics I learned to consider that a response to a performance has way more possibilities then a written statement or even simple words in general. While I adore writing here I tried to challenge myself and put my artistic hand to use!
The image is a digital poster-like graphic. The inspiration behind it derived from my experience watching the dance performance ‘Trojans’ at Cork Midsummer Festival. I can only describe ‘Trojans’ as an epic and profound piece, coincidentally loosely inspired by Virgil’s epic ‘ The Aeneid ‘. It contained amazingly talented performers that twisted and turned just like one’s interpretation of the work during the viewing. It was sure to leave anyone in a deeply contemplative and perhaps even personal mood.
Wiktor Koper is a Young Critic in 2023 and a member of W.A.C.T Youth Theatre in Co. Wexford.
The National Youth Theatre in Like We Were Born To Move by Eimear Hussey. Directed by Niall Cleary. Produced by Youth Theatre Ireland at Abbey Theatre. Photo Credit: Ros Kavanagh.
The National Youth Theatre is an initiative of Youth Theatre Ireland, and this year celebrates its 40th anniversary. It is supported by the Arts Council, Creative Ireland and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and is comprised of a cast of young people between the ages of 16 to 21 from all across Ireland. It is an incredible opportunity for these young people to work with some of Irelands best creative teams on a production that is then put on for the public.
This year, the Young Critics were lucky enough to be invited to see the National Youth Theatre’s production, a brand new play ‘Like We Were Born To Move’, written by National Youth Theatre alumni Eimear Hussey and directed by Niall Cleary.
‘Like We Were Born To Move’ is a celebration of youth. It is a play about wanting to become an adult and make your own decisions, and the terrifying bump when you realise you now have to. It centres around the lives of 16 young people, and their struggles with identity, family, loss, sexuality, money, career and friendship. Dance is also a prominent theme, as many of the characters are dancers themselves, or aspire to be.
When we did a bit of research before we saw the show, I was quite shocked to find out that there was 16 cast members. I worried that this would be way too many characters to keep up with and it would become confusing and muddled, like starting a tv show on season 4 without having seen the previous 3 seasons. However, I was surprised by how well these 16 characters were introduced to the audience. It was done gradually, throughout the run of the show. Sometimes characters were spoken about onstage for a few scenes before they actually made an appearance, making it easier to connect them all in my head. The links and relationships between the characters and how they all managed to be individual and different was truly incredible and extremely well thought out. Occasionally I found myself wishing we could see more of some characters that had slightly less of a main role, and I think this is down to the excellent storytelling in the writing, with each character having such a cleverly crafted identity. Obviously with 16 cast members, some were going to have more obviously main roles as others, but I think the balance between them all worked very well and I was really hooked on all of their stories.
It was really lovely to see the chemistry between all of the actors. As someone pointed out in our panel after the show, for a production about young adults and their relationships with each other, there was no kissing onstage at all. However, in my opinion, this cast didn’t need it. They were so incredibly in sync with each other, in their movements and emotions, and you could really feel the intimacy between characters without ever having to show it. They said everything in the pauses between lines and it was a really beautiful thing to watch a group of young people who clearly have so much love for each other in real life translate that to the stage.
Another feature of the National Youth Theatre is their Design and Technical Theatre ensemble, comprised of 4 young people from across the country. The ensemble are given the incredible opportunity to learn from the professional designers working on the production as well as having some influence in the final designs.
The set was designed by set designer Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng. The set itself was simple enough, however, it was taken from simple to incredibly engaging thanks to all the small details dotting the stage. The mismatched chairs, the paint peeling off the door, the laundry spilling out of the washing machine all painted an endearing picture of a house lived in by a group of young people. Little things like socks hanging off the chandelier and a lamp balanced on an old Roses box added to the aesthetics of the set and really made it seem homely and personal, but also slightly falling into disrepair due to the nature of its tenants. You could really see the influence the Design and Tech Ensemble might have had on making the set feel more relatable to young people today.
The same can also be said for the costumes. Designed by costume designer Mae Leahy, each costume was unique to the characters and perfectly suited each actor. The costumes all seemed to have a slight vintage feel to them which makes me wonder if this had anything to do with the Design and Tech Ensemble’s input as a group of young people. Vintage clothing is hugely coming back into style, especially among ‘Gen Z’, so this made the clothing even more realistic and brought the characters further to life.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable production, and definitely a fresh new take on themes that have been shown in media over and over again. It was incredibly refreshing as a young person to see a production about young people, performed by young people and written by a young person. References to things like Longitude and Gilmore Girls elevated the humour in this play to especially appeal to younger audiences, growing up in the 21st century. The dance storylines were a really good way to add movement into the play as well as touching common issues for young dancers. Themes like sexuality, mental health and dysfunctional family dynamics were dealt with skilfully and with a light touch, while still providing a poignant, bittersweet insight into the highs and lows of the life of a young adult in 2023.
Emma is a member of Act Out Youth Theatre and a 2023 Young Critic.
Ruth Cunningham is a member of Roscommon Youth Theatre and is a Young Critic for 2023.
[Video Text]
I’m not in the centre of this and it’s really annoying me but we’re just going to leave that. So, hello my name is Ruth Cunningham. I am from Roscommon County Youth Theatre (arguablythe best youth theatre) and I am one of your young critics for 2023! This is my review of FreeFalling.
[music]
I’m a bad boy for breakin’ her heart
And I’m free
Free fallin’
[music ends]
[Video Text]
For context, backin June we went to the Cork Midsummer Festival. We got to see three very different performances. Freefalling was my personal favourite.
So this is a one-woman show that’s directed by Lynne Parker and tells Georgina Millers’ life story. We went to see this in the Everyman theatre in Cork.
So. 14 years ago, Georgina Miller, an actor and writer from Limerick, decided to use up her life savings and go abroad to travel the world. During her travels she swam with sea turtles, swam in crystal clear blue waters, fell in love, danced on beaches and skydived. She was really living the dream. Until things took a turn for the worst. She couldn’t move her body properly and no one knew why. If she didn’t treat her mystery condition soon, she would need a ventilator to keep herself alive.
I’m just going to talk about some of the things I really enjoyed about the performance.
Other than the plot, one thing that was really cool about this performance was the set that they built for it. It was almost like a cocooning tree. I don’t know if you have ever been in the Everyman Theatre before. It’s a very big stage. It was very clever to build this set to frame the action. It was like branches that held her together with little lights on the bottom. Lynne Parker used these to illustrate the story as well. There is one section in the story where Georgina goes to Uluru. There is this myth that if you take these rocks from there (lots of tourists do it) it is meant to give you bad luck. Obviously Georgina being Georgina she took them. How they showed this on stage was that all the rest of the lights dimmed and all you could see where the little red dots on branches. I was sat back thinking “Oh my god this is so cool”.
One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet is the fact that this show had and aerial element. For the entire performance (except for the very start and the very end), Georgina was on a harness controlled by Jose Portillo. He would propel her up and down to illustrate the story. She would demonstrate her diving throughout the air – it was very cool to watch. They even used this as a storytelling mechanism. When she had a lot of mobility she was up in the air doing loads of tricks but when she was really ill and she couldn’t move she was down on the ground. I thought this was so clever.
I just want to commend Georgina’s performance. It is so hard to be on stage alone for a minute. The fact she was on her own on stage commanding that audience for the entire performance – It is just mind-blowing. She had the ability to change the entire mood of the piece depending on what she was talking about. There were people laughing, there were people crying. She made us all feel something and I think that is something to be really proud of.
For me the message of this play is that our freedom is finite and we need to appreciate our lives while we have them. Also to invest in health insurance – that is very important. I would advise that if you re going to see this play, be aware that it does talk about very emotional times. It is very heartbreaking. Personally, I got quite upset at parts of it. Just be aware of that before you are going. Be aware that you can always talk to someone if you are having problems after the play because it is important to get those feelings out.
I would give this play a 4/5 stars.
I hope that you take my opinions on board. Obviously someone could have said that they hated it and I respect that [opinion]. I hope that you take this on board and maybe you’ll agree with me. Thank you for listening.
The play ‘Elles Vivent’ (EV) is a remarkably funny and frank production that examines our modern norms by heightening them to their inevitable ridiculous conclusion.
For some background information EV was originally conceived by Antoine Defoort and then collaborated on by Lorette Moreau. It was performed by the aforementioned Antoine Defoort as well as, Sofia Teillet, Alexandre Le Nours and Arnaud Boulogne, with The Spirit of the Forest as logomorphic adviser and engineering of the Fliflifli Reform by Kevin Matagne. Oh, and if list wasn’t setting off any senses, it’s entirely in French.
The story goes as such; in the future, an indeterminate amount of time (+2 years) away, two friends, Michel and Taylor, meet in a forest to discuss their lives over the past years. Michel has spent two years in a deep mindfulness isolation and so has plenty of questions regarding the current state of the world to ask his good friend.
One of the most pressing themes present within EV is the relationships that we have with our ideas, modalities and societal norms. From the absurdity of our modern customs to the almost autonomous life and strength we give to ideas simply by thinking of them. EV treats ideas and concepts as living things that are hard to kill and will naturally defend themselves. Such as, the concept of fear. EV describes the idea of fear as something you push away behind a fridge or at the back of a cupboard, but, in the effort you take to try and forget this fear, to kill it, this idea, it grows in strength, out of sight but looming, breathing down your neck. In answer to this EV suggest (by means of musical prose no less) that by acknowledging all of our ideas equally, ‘by giving them a seat at the table’, and acknowledging the fact that we ‘Are super scared’, it removes the threat they pose, giving them nothing but a passive influence on our lives.
But let’s hang on that musical prose part for a sec’ because it gives me an excellent segue into one of the best parts of this play, that being; the funny. Hands down EV contains a fantastic sense of comedy throughout, often pairing it with serious thoughts and concepts to create a paradoxical situation in which you both believe completely in what they are proposing while simultaneously laughing your head off at it, or as they more deftly describe it, ‘Holding two opposing truths at once’. Such as ‘The Stick Prayer’, a mindfulness activity proposed in universe that despite lucridity of it, works. And it is this mixture of paradox and comedy that I believe keeps audience members open to conversation and discussion of these ideas.
But it’s not just the story that is cause to this brilliant piece of art. Designed by Marie Szersnovicz, EV’s constant backdrop of a beautiful forest scape gives the story an almost timeless sense despite being set in the future. The projecting screen set in the middle of the stage ensures that your eyes are neither carried too far away from the characters nor the subtitles, as well as providing story relevance by setting the scenes in the memories.
The crowning jewel though, what I believe shows that true care and attention has been put into this play is the feature of the nmemoprojector. The simple prop slash plot device in question allows the wearer to view any memory that they may recall. Not only does this provide a quick way to jump between multiple points in the past two years, but what I love is the clarity of the memory has an effect on the viewing. Backgrounds may be blurred or simply just a colour gradient, furniture is reduced to simply geometric shapes, at one point a character’s recollection fades to just the emotion that they felt at this time, so nothing is projected, but the accompanying music swells and fills the theatre, letting the feels wash over you in one of the only languages where fluency is unrequired.
When all is said Elles Vivent is a brilliant think piece that dissects our norms and tackles interesting issues within the self while also managing to be an absolutely hilarious in an ingenious performance.
Dearbhla McCormick is a member of Monaghan Youth Theatre and is a Young Critic for 2022.
Dearbhla McCormick is a Young Critic for 2022 and is from Monaghan Youth Theatre. They chose to creatively respond to the performance they saw of A Safe Passage by Irene Kelleher, performed at the Cork Midsummer Festival 2022.
