Giant Wolf Youth Theatre

Hallowe’en Horror Show Review By Aoife Murphy and Dylan Gallagher

Posted on by Youth Theatre Ireland Young Critics

In the latest review from our Young Critics, we venture again online and review our peers at Giant Wolf Youth Theatre. Working in tandem, our pair of critics log onto Discord for a seasonal online offering.

The horrific murder of a normal family, a decaying body at the bottom of a lake, the disappearance of a brother that cannot be solved, this radio play has it all.

Although Discord is a website primarily used for online gaming, Giant Wolf Youth Theatre in Tallaght, Dublin have given the platform their own unique stamp by using it to perform ‘Hallowe’en Horror Show’ on the eve of the spookiest day of the year at 7pm. This live entertainment was a free, non-ticketed event and contains six pieces created a few weeks before airing by its members. However, we will just be giving a slight taster into this great act to give our readers a sense of the show. The audience are able to post their live reactions in a separate text channel as the performance occurs and actors are also able to communicate with the listeners, answering questions while not disturbing the show.

Written and performed by Young Critics’ own Heather Jones, the introductory piece The Waiting Game is set in a bedroom. Usually it’s a place that suggests comfort and security. Any feeling of that is instantly taken from participants who tune in with how surreal this performance is.

It centralises on the death of the character’s family from a creature described as having “natural sickly white skin” and “tainted crimson all over its arms, legs and neck”.  The murder is witnessed by the only character in the show and we’re given great insight into the emotions she feels, “My whole body was numb sitting in the silence”. She hides in her bedroom while recounting the story and it ends on a cliff-hanger, leaving the audience to their imaginations. Jones’ acting skills came across the medium phenomenally and caused everyone witnessing this masterpiece heart’s to race, visualising the gruesome scene.

The second piece is named Picturesque and is made by James Chatham, Trudy Nolan, and Kai Foley, performed by the writers as well as Ella Kinsella.

We are transported back fifteen years where we meet Quinn Smith. The show is based around the interviewing of Quinn on the 7th of September, 2010 at 3pm, and gradually we learn about the events which unfolded and lead to his rehabilitation. We are presented with two different versions of the event and are left conflicted on who to believe.

At the beginning of the story, Quinn conveys himself as a loving husband and father to young Jack and Alice, describing the details of that night with loving narration. But with the twist ending, we’re left bewildered, wondering if this is all an act and if he really is the person he acts out to be. After multiple forms of evidence line up with Quinn’s recounting are presented from the interviewers attempting to convict him, what comes next is something nobody could predict. A bone chilling sinister laugh, challenging Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’ is heard echoing through the device’s speakers and leaves you holding your breath in anticipation. This piece is confusing at the beginning and listeners are unsure where the story is heading, but ends up being very well thought out and keeps the audience engaged with its constant plot twists.

The final act is titled Thicker than Water and is created from the mind of Charley Ashe, also performed by Ashe as well as Trudy Nolan and James Chatham.

Our last journey tells the comedic but equally frightening tale of three characters Kevin, Katie and Ciara. These seventeen year olds are subjected to an interview by Kevin for his school project that results in both girls retelling the perplexing events that happened to them both in a Wicklow forest. This show is reminiscent to the Irish film The Hole In The Ground directed by Lee Cronin, but takes that plot to a new level with the sheer adrenaline experienced when hearing the scary situations these girls end up in. It has a great sense of place with strong Irish accents and its careful placements of sound effects help the overall feeling of an outdoor setting.

Hallowe’en Horror Show by Giant Wolf Youth Theatre is an extremely immersive experience and a surreal insight into the world of horror and all things terrifying. The wonderful narrator Cal has such a relaxing and pleasant voice. It’s extremely soothing between each piece, which just makes it all the more disturbing when we’re thrown back into these six worlds of mayhem. For only having a short and limited time to prepare, everyone involved in this production worked very well to produce a wonderful event, getting their audience in the mood to fully celebrate Halloween the next day.

Show reviewed on Oct 30th, and review submitted Nov 8th

Aoife is a member of Explore Youth Theatre, Leixlip, Co.Kildare and Dylan is a member of Leitrim Youth Theatre Company Carrick On Shannon. Both are Youth Theatre Ireland Young Critics for 2020.

Howie The Rookie – A Review by Heather Jones

Posted on by Youth Theatre Ireland Young Critics

The 2020 iteration of Young Critics, has like most events globally, been deeply affected by the COVID19 pandemic. So instead of bringing our group to Dublin for their first weekend together in April, we will be running a selection of their initial reviews.

These reviews were submitted as part of their Young Critics application. As such, they represent the first steps on their Young Critics journey. We hope you enjoy them.

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First up, Young Critic Heather Jones from Giant Wolf Youth Theatre reviews Howie The Rookie at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. Presented by Glass Mask Theatre as part of a national tour, this review contains ***MAJOR SPOILERS*** for Howie The Rookie.

This delightfully emotional, witty, thought-provoking play by Mark O’Rowe is truly a sight to behold.

The play centres on two dual monologues – delivered by our main characters ‘the Howie Lee’ (Stephen Jones) and ‘the Rookie Lee’ (Rex Ryan), some of Ireland’s most exciting actors – taking the audience on an adventure of two individuals fighting for survival and meaning against a Dublin City pulsing with violence.

Some of the truly incredible elements of the show come in the form of delivery, lighting and sound design and its conspiracy ending.

The delivery by each actor is truly miraculous. The authenticity and immersive-ness of the performance allows for the play to envelop the audience in all elements of the plot, themes and believability of the characters. Even the delivery of the play’s major twists and turns are done so with ease by Jones and Rex. The physicality and recall of these extraordinary actors is unbelievable as well and is certainly commendable, admired and one of the most memorable attributes of the show.

But an actor can only be as good as their tools, and in this case the writing for this theatrical piece is remarkable. The play is structured in two acts, with each act as one monologue delivered by their respective character – Act One saw the ‘larger than life’, the Howie Lee, as the storyteller with Act Two, looking toward ‘the playboy’, the Rookie Lee, to pick up the torch. With each act capping in at nearly 50 minutes, the performances of Jones and Ryan are looked on with awe and admiration by their audience.

The lighting and sound design are other elements that resulted in such an incredible play. Due to set design – or lack thereof, with nothing but an empty stage for the actors to play with – every flicker of light or hum of a note was noticed by the eagle-eyed and elephant-eared viewer. All lighting arrangements were easily recognisable and clearly helped to establish the setting in the face-paced, ever-evolving story. Even the subtle music cues of soft filler music or cheesy love songs aided in the telling of a sensual, emotional story.

Finally, the mysterious ending. This is where the debate begins. What? That’s all I can say about it. Theories range from ‘he’s obviously dead’ to ‘it’s all in his head’. Regardless of what it all means, it truly is an intriguing ending. It is one that sticks with an audience as we are left to ponder and theorise, making the play memorable. For me personally, I would have liked a little more detail or sense of what it meant – as my friends and I were left flabbergasted and longed to know what the heck we had just seen. It definitely took a turn that both no one expected or understood.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the play and would encourage everyone to go and see it – but be warned, prepare to leave the theatre wondering what just happened.

Heather Jones is a member of Giant Wolf Youth Theatre and one of Youth Theatre Ireland’s Young Critics for 2020.

Heather has been a member of Giant Wolf Youth Theatre for just over a year.

She has loved every second of this experience and learned so much about herself and theatre as a whole. She has been involved in physical theatre, movement, stage combat, writing and general production workshops within her time in Giant Wolf. They, as a theatre, have done one major production called ‘Eggplant’, centred around teenage sexual relationships, sexual maturity and sexual education. She has participated in a European Youth Theatre Festival called ‘Intertwined’ in Cottbus, Germany.

Heather would love to gain more expertise and understanding of theatre from the Young Critics Programme. Having in-depth discussions is something she loves to do and getting to have those discussions on plays and theatre is like a dream come true for me. She’d love to become an actor or something within the world of drama when she’s older too and feels this programme will benefit her greatly.

She would also love to make new friends to last me a lifetime also. Getting to meet like-minded people who share common interests is always exciting and seldom seen. And seeing a few shows for free doesn’t sound too bad either.

Introducing  Youth Theatre Ireland’s Young Critics 2020

Posted on by Youth Theatre Ireland Young Critics

The response to Youth Theatre Ireland’s call out for Young Critics this year was phenomenal. We received 45 applications from youth theatres all across the country. The standard of application was exceptionally high and we were lucky to be able to select 16 young people with a broad range of youth theatre experiences.

 

We are delighted to announce our cohort of Young Critics for 2020.

They are:

Sinead Barry, Lightbulb Youth Theatre, Mallow, Co. Cork.

Cathal Brace, Griese Youth Theatre, Co. Kildare.

Marc Cheevers, Explore Youth Theatre, Co. Kildare.

Sarah Cooney McCann, M.A.D. Youth Theatre, Dundalk, Co. Louth.

Emma Corrigan, Monaghan Youth Theatre.

Harry Eaves, Mr. Sands Youth Theatre, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

Dylan Gallagher, Leitrim Youth Theatre Company Carrick On Shannon.

Heather Jones, Giant Wolf Youth Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin.

Katie Lacey- Curtis, Making Waves Youth Theatre, Greystones, Co. Wicklow

Caitlyn Morrissey, Co. Wexford Youth Theatre.

Ellie O’Connell, Activate Youth Theatre, Cork.

Lórcan O’Shea, Kildare Youth Theatre. 

Ruairí Phelan, Dublin Youth Theatre.

Mairead Phelan, Free Radicals Youth Theatre, Tralee, Co. Kerry.

Killian Reid, Backstage Youth Theatre, Longford

Kai Ryan, Griese Youth Theatre, Co. Kildare.

We’re especially delighted to welcome members from three of our most recently affiliated youth theatres; Mr. Sands, Giant Wolf and Making Waves Youth Theatres, who will have members participating on Young Critics for the very first time.

In light of the current health emergency with COVID19, we’ve had to suspend our annual first meet up of the Young Critics in April. We hope to bring the group together later in the summer and then back again for the Young Critics Panel in October as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

We’d like to thank all the young people who applied, and all the youth theatres who supported their applications.

In the meantime, we will be introducing you to our young critics and publishing a selection of the critical responses across the Young Critics blog.

First up we have Heather Jones from Giant Wolf Youth Theatre based at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. You can read her very insightful review of Howie The Rookie here on the Young Critics Blog.