reviews

Riain Cash, Molly Lynch, Danielle James in Lourdes! The Musical by Xnthony Ltd. Image, Patricio Cassinoni

Review of Lourdes! The Musical

Posted on by rebeccayti

By Teegan O’Connell

It’s been a kitsch, camp and Catholic, two weeks at the Civic Theatre with the world

premiere of Xnthony’s Lourdes! The Musical.

Lourdes! Follows Matthew, an Irish actor working in London who is diagnosed as HIV

positive. This causes him to not get his ‘big break’. In order to cope with this loss and

revelation he returns to his hometown of ‘Countryland,’ Ireland, where he escapes to

Lourdes to join an amateur production of the story of Saint Bernadette. This production

changes Matthew’s life, forever and ever amen.

Despite opening with a debatably rushed exposition, with Matthew getting diagnosed with

HIV within the first five minutes, Lourdes! manages to expertly balance the fun and the

forlorn. It discusses the themes of queerness, illness, shame and transphobia throughout

without compromising on theatrics. Xnthony is scathingly blunt when writing typically taboo

topics such as death and illness, in a way which is extremely refreshing. Meanwhile, Riain

Cash’s flamboyant portrayal of Matthew lightens the atmosphere, allowing for such topics

to be discussed with stunning depth and nuance. Cash’s performance is a camp depiction

of theatre kid extravagance, which is in all ways iconic. His skill meets with Xnthony’s

writing to create a religious experience only ever felt by queer youth when they first

discover camp media.

Lourdes! is full of age-old clichés which add to it’s entertainment value. These can be seen

in the set and costumes, both of which are designed by Niall McKeever. The golden

seashell light covers at which characters both sing and pray transport the audience from

Tallaght to Broadway. All of the characters’ costumes from the casual sweatpants and

clerical collar combination worn by Father JB (skilfully portrayed by Iestyn Arwel), to the

over-the-top suits worn by Matthew during their production in Lourdes perfectly represent

their characters.

Directed by the brilliant Sarah Meadows with the acting of Danielle James, Molly Lynch

and Nichola MacEvilly, Lourdes! is a musical that I hope lasts long after the Dublin Theatre

Festival. It’s a musical that I believe will resonate with Irish audiences forever. Forever and

ever amen.

Teegan O’Connell is a member of Lightbulb Youth Theatre in Mallow, Co. Cork and a young critic for 2026.

Scattered Sideways Review

Posted on by rebeccayti

By Grey O’Brien

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

Review of Stickman

Posted on by rebeccayti

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Stickman! 

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.