Review: REBEL REBEL - Rising Actors On a Bigger Stage

"Did that play of mine send out certain men the English shot?". If WB Yeats suspected the patriotic sentiments of his 1902 drama Cathleen ni Houlihan to send nationalist fighters out to war, he probably found eerily timely the Abbey Theatre's revival of the play for Easter week 1916. Furthermore, that the role of Peter Gillane - the bridegroom who lays down his life for the Poor Old Woman representing Ireland - would be played by Sean Connolly, the first rebel fatality of the Rising.

In Aisling O'Mara and Robbie O'Connor's new play, Connolly is joined by Helena Molony, another theatrical and soldier in the Rising. An audio feed from the Abbey auditorium sends Yeats's drama buzzing through their dressing room, while both actors consider their offstage roles: the guns have been hidden under the stage.

Under Louise Lowe's frenetic direction, this is less a historical reenactment than a stormful summoning. The action is played in the round in the Bewley's space at Powerscourt, with figures, donned in Chloe Gamble's Edwardian dress, making schemes around a table, somberly lit by Colm Maher's low-hanging lamps.

O'Connor robustly plays Connolly in all his desperation, while O'Mara sensitively shows the hothead Molony to not have the walk of a queen but rather the rampage of a self-saboteur. The killer conceit here is to shoot their drama through the prism of Yeats's play: suggestions of adultery are underscored with dialogue about Peter Gillane's marriage, and Molony offers her body just like the mystical Cathleen but is unforgiven for not having the same glorious sentiment.

These are revolutionaries beyond their involvement in the Rising, with amateur actor Connolly destined for Hollywood and Molony acting extraordinarily above the expectations of her gender at the time.

However, some of the impact is lost in the frantic pace of the staging. While it shreds your senses, due in large to Ivan Birthistle's excellent sound design, the mass amount of historical information and stage vocabulary does not get effectively unpackaged.

That is not to say you'll easily shake off its deathly feeling of blood sacrifice, or its disturbing proof. It turns out that play of his did send certain men out the English shot.

Rebel Rebel runs at Bewley's Cafe Theatre at Powerscourt as part of Tiger Dublin Fringe until 19 Sept. For more information and tickets, see the Fringe website.

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