All stories by Helen Meany on BroadwayStars

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Happy Days: international Beckett festival review – exquisite Britten; comical, otherworldly drama by Helen Meany

Enniskillen, Co FermanaghMoving immersive performances of Britten’s Phaedra and Beckett’s All That Fall, along with his otherworldly Ohio Impromptu, starred in this year’s lineupA woma…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:39PM
Monday, July 20, 2015

Luck Just Kissed You Hello review – a blistering exploration of masculinity by Helen Meany

Mick Lally theatre, GalwayPlaywright and actor Amy Conroy gives herself the best lines as a transgender man, in a work full of intense deathbed confrontations and family truth-telling A sex-…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:46AM
Monday, June 22, 2015

The Shadow of a Gunman review – reinvigorates O'Casey's tragicomedy by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinWayne Jordan strips back Seán O’Casey’s drama, set during the Irish war of independence, to deliver an impressive meditation on violence and reality that feels tellingly mo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:21AM
Friday, June 19, 2015

Krapp's Last Tape – review by Helen Meany

Ardhowen, EnniskillenWhite-faced, open-mouthed, and spattered with shards of white light, Robert Wilson's Krapp might already have passed over to the other side. His performance, in his own …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:15PM
Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Hedda Gabler review – Ibsen's drama is frozen in time by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinAnnabelle Comyn’s staging of this drama of marital suffocation is so cool and controlled that it becomes almost inert Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AM
Monday, April 20, 2015

Lally the Scut review – ferocious agitprop comedy by Helen Meany

The Mac, BelfastIn smalltown Northern Ireland, politicians, the media and the church all pursue self-serving agendas after a small boy is trapped in a bog hole Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:15AM
Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – Bard's comedy moves into a care home by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinTheseus is a doctor and Puck’s potion is administered by drip in an inventive production that strikes a fine balance between comedy and pathos Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:56AM
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Everything Between Us – daughters of murdered Ulster loyalist reunite with explosive results by Helen Meany

Project arts centre, DublinWhen two sisters meet after an 11-year silence in David Ireland’s play, the racist rants that ensue push at the limits of stage performance Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:27PM
Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Walworth Farce review – Brendan Gleeson and sons are infectiously funny by Helen Meany

Olympia, DublinThe comedy is broad and the timing wild in Brendan, Domhnall and Brian’s performance of Enda Walsh’s play, but the ending loses its power to disturb Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:40AM
Monday, January 5, 2015

She Stoops to Conquer review – panto performers drown out a class act by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinConall Morrison’s histrionic musical production treats Oliver Goldsmith’s subtle social comedy with too heavy a hand Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:40AM
Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Our Few and Evil Days review Cusack and Hinds shine through the darkness by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinSinéad Cusack and Ciarán Hinds superbly negotiate the emotional waves in Mark ORowes tense new play about a couple whose past comes back to haunt them Sinéad Cusack: …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24AM
Monday, October 6, 2014

Frequency 783 review death, loneliness and space travel at Dublin Theatre festival by Helen Meany

Project Arts Centre, DublinWhile this obtuse two-hander is cumulatively powerful, it is let down by a threadbare ending Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:17AM
Friday, October 3, 2014

Brigit review portrait of a rural Irish artist by Helen Meany

Olympia theatre, DublinClassical and Celtic myth converge in this tale of an anticlerical craftsman, a prequel to Tom Murphys Bailegangaire Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:52AM
Thursday, October 2, 2014

Vardo review a graphic tour of Dublins desperate underbelly by Helen Meany

Oonagh Young Gallery, DublinThe final part of Anu Productions local-history cycle leads audience members through disturbing scenes featuring sex workers and stranded immigrants Continue read…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:08AM
Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing five-star review a courageously feminist production by Helen Meany

Samuel Beckett theatre, DublinEimear McBrides award-winning novel transitions perfectly to the stage in Corn Exchanges startling and upsetting Dublin theatre festival show about the impact o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:46AM
Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Heartbreak House review George Bernard Shaw sails into surrealist waters by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinRóisín McBrinn's inventive production accelerates the pace and plays up the dreamlike quality of this nautically inspired farce Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:56AM
Monday, August 25, 2014

Punk Rock review school exams unleash pent-up adolescent energy by Helen Meany

Lyric theatre, BelfastSimon Stephens' play of squabbling sixth-formers builds tensions to a striking climax in this finely tuned production Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:51AM
Thursday, July 10, 2014

Aristocrats review unsentimental snapshot of a family in decline by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinA sensitive revival of Brian Friel's play about a Catholic family in Donegal offers no easy answers to the problems of class and kinThe title of Brian Friel's play from …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM
Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Twelfth Night review a cross-dressing classic for modern times by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinAn imaginative production including semi-streaking brings a play full of longing and unrequited desire into the presentOpening with the semi-clad Duke Orsino blasting …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:12AM
Wednesday, April 23, 2014

An Ideal Husband review Wilde would approve of some edits by Helen Meany

Gate, DublinMuch has dated in Oscar Wilde's 1895 political melodrama, but his treatment of marital politics still stings todayA hall of mirrors is a well-chosen image for the stage set for O…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:01AM
Monday, March 17, 2014

Conservatory review – 'Echoes of Beckett are everywhere' by Helen Meany

Peacock, DublinDespite two great central performances, the play loses its focus when it attempts to portray the fraying social fabric of Protestant IrelandThe elderly couple in Michael West'…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:02AM
Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The Vortex review – 'Character assassinations over cocktails' by Helen Meany

Gate theatre, DublinNoël Coward's drawing room play about a 1920s socialite and her decadent son is as riveting and barbed as everIn this play that became a sensation in 1920s London, Noël…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:57AM
Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Risen People – review by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinThe possibilities for a potent work of political music-theatre are squandered in this ambitious look at the 1913 Dublin lockoutTo mark the centenary of the 1913 Dublin l…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Colleen Bawn – review by Helen Meany

Black Box theatre, GalwayPathos meets farcical high jinks in this Irish tale of mistaken identities and secret passionsPlaywright and impresario Dion Boucicault made stage Irishness an inter…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:34AM
Saturday, October 12, 2013

theartsdesk in Dublin: Noh way by Helen Meany

“Come out to play” is the tagline for this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival, and a great deal of the work presented in the programme manifested suitably playful exuberance. Running over …

SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 01:26PM
Friday, October 11, 2013

The Hanging Gardens – review by Helen Meany

Abbey, DublinA manipulative patriarch's decline into dementia is seen from the perspectives of his adult children in a play that isn't quite fleshed outGardens in autumnal shades are the dom…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:14PM
Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Critic – review by Helen Meany

Culture Box, DublinAs a celebration of a rich theatre tradition, this play has fun. As a commentary on critics and the theatre, it's heavy-handedAs manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PM
Sunday, September 1, 2013

A Streetcar Named Desire – review by Helen Meany

Gate, DublinLia Williams's dazzling Blanche is the highlight of this beautifully choreographed production of the Tennessee Williams classicLight is a central metaphor in Tennessee Williams's…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:30PM
Thursday, August 15, 2013

Embers – review by Helen Meany

Beckett, DublinWe step inside the head of a frustrated writer in this riveting staging of Beckett's 1959 radio playDoes staging a radio play reduce its impact, or expand it? If it is written…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:50AM
Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Shush – review by Helen Meany

Abbey theatre, DublinFriendships are strained to breaking point in Elaine Murphy's new comedy, in which four Dublin women rally around their depressed pal on her birthday. Breda, in her late…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:50PM
Sunday, March 17, 2013

Tiny Plays for Ireland 2 – review by Helen Meany

Project, DublinFour minutes, 600 words, 25 plays – last year, Fishamble theatre company held an open call for mini-plays portraying aspects of contemporary Ireland. Submissions poured in, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:39PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic