See it if would have liked longer versions of each play.
Don't see it if you don't like irish plays
See it if You like Irish playwrights and themes, enjoy one acts and light Chekhovian sketches of characters and ensemble acting.in obscure material.
Don't see it if You want sustained narrative or complete plays as opposed to character sketches.
See it if You like short plays. Two out of four are good (the first two). Well staged, interesting, thought provoking. The Mint always does well.
Don't see it if If you want one story. Read more
See it if You have a fondness for Irish drama and want to discover an almost unremembered dramatist
Don't see it if If you expect any of the four plays to be more than character sketches
See it if you can look beyond the amateur feel of this, the accents, the wigs, the stories...
Don't see it if you want a witty, moving Irish play. These short plays are slow and boring. Way too much standing and staring, didn't seem real at all Read more
See it if you love old-fashioned, dated theater. Want to see something with a box set at a community theater level.
Don't see it if you want to see something interesting, daring or thought provoking. Read more
See it if You enjoy Irish plays, short plays and ensemble acting.
Don't see it if You don't like revivals of old plays, or period dramas. Read more
See it if If you like stories linked to the same theme, playing different characters at different times. Someone is coming, leaving and moving.
Don't see it if You don't like the period dramas.
"'Strange Birth,' the most successful of the four, is a delicate play about the vicissitudes of love...‘Holiday House’ is a genteel drawing-room attempt that telegraphs future events early on...The piece seems like Act I of an unfinished play...Two well-performed entr’acte poems are recited in front of the curtain...Redmond breathes vibrant life into every character he inhabits...The evening is disappointing. Deevy had a reason to store these under her bed."
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"An illuminating program of four short plays...None are revealed as lost masterpieces, yet all reflect Deevy’s sensitive style of oblique realism and her substantially intriguing female characters...'The King of Spain’s Daughter'...is the strongest drama...Seven actors competently depict various characters...A playwright whose subtle stories about everyday people at times suggest Chekhov spoken with an Irish brogue."
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“It’s hard to believe Bank couldn’t come up with a more compelling curtain-raiser than the barely there ‘Strange Birth’…Happily, there’s more substance, and greater enjoyment, to be had in ‘Holiday House,’ the evening’s only out-and-out comedy…Banks’s direction is, to put it mildly, leisurely, with dialogue pauses in all four playlets that you could drive a lorry through…Whatever qualities the Mint perceives in Deevy’s oeuvre, these one-acts are a highly variable lot.”
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“Overall, the cast is excellent, and I imagine they must have a blast playing all their roles, particularly Deaver, who gets to play three distinctly different and fascinating women and does so beautifully. Also outstanding is Mace, who takes four relatively small parts and makes them distinct and textured and real…And Bank's direction pulled everything together expertly, giving us a wonderful sense of Deevy's great skill and compassion and a first-class evening in the theatre.”
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"A delectable and delicate vaudeville...Six performers stretch their acting, singing and wig-wearing chops...But Mace’s work in this evening of repertory constitutes the spine of the evening...It’s resonant stagecraft without being domineering; it’s a study in evoking full characterizations with small moves and distinct dialect work...The wonder of the evening also comes from the fact that these gems do deserve to live in the light of day...Whatever you do, go see this production."
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"Four lovely one-acts...An evening rich in human nature: love and longing and desperation and danger and disappointment, all embodied in these delicate vignettes, so charming, so full of surprises and of insight. Like a quick-sketch artist, Deevy creates character right before our eyes...We are helped in our imaginings by this pitch-perfect cast, who can shift from role to role and become nearly unrecognizable from play to play."
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"Deevy offers brief snapshots into colorful lives, and the playwright fleshes out her characters and the complex crossroads they find themselves at clearly and succinctly within each play’s pleasurably quick running time...The pared-down production is aided by its aesthetics...The versatile cast, too, helps to infuse life into Deevy’s gentle works...Ultimately, however, it’s Deevy’s words that take center stage...These long-unseen plays deserve their chance to shine."
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