BWW Reviews: Rugby, Recessions, and Ross

The lovable rogue has always held a special place in literature, theatre, and pop-culture. He is personified in characters from Henry Fielding's rakish Tom Jones to the lusty Casanova and Lord Byron. Dublin's version is one Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, whose (slightly less romantic) exploits are currently on display at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in the new comedy "Between Foxrock and a Hard Place".

Think of your most pompous Ivy League frat-boy, then take away any intellectual smarts, add a paunch and an Irish accent and you've got Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, a laddish but lovable bloke once described as the greatest rugby player Ireland never had. The Landmark Productions show is the second based on the character, who gained a cult following thanks to his appearance in ten novels and a running column in The Sunday Tribune by creator Paul Howard.

Howard's books are written completely in dialect, which can be a daunting read for an outsider. He employs the Irish peculiarity of rhyming slang, which substitutes completely unrelated words for others that just happen to rhyme. (i.e. "peter pan" = tan and "septic tank" = Yank). On stage the accents are much easier to comprehend, though being a "septic tank" I fully admit that roughly 15% of the material probably sailed right over my head! But with six Ross books under my belt, I felt well-prepared and thoroughly enjoyed the humor.

The satire plays on exaggerated regional stereotypes within Dublin city; namely that the River Liffey separates the rich, civilized South from the uncouth and decidedly un-rich Northsiders. As such, Howard is poking fun at exactly those snobbish Southsiders who hold themselves above their fellow Dubliners. He also has plenty of jibes for Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, among others.

The action unfolds in the living room of the O'Carroll Kelly "gaf", designed with just the right touch of bourgeois pomposity by designer Joe Vanek. Nestled in Foxrock, one of South Dublin's tonier suburbs, the characters (Ross, his crooked politician father Charles, mother Fionnuala, son Ronan, wife Sorcha, and her pal Erika) are soon interrupted by a masked gunman (Gary Cooke) who holds them hostage overnight. In the process they spew some dirty family secrets and a slew of hilarious social commentary.

Ross's delusional self-confidence is perfectly captured by Rory Nolan, whose arrogant posture -- hands on hips, toes turned-out, nose stuck in the air -- says it all. Nolan, who has recently taken some hefty dramatic turns in the Gate Theatre's Death of a Salesman and in Macbeth at The Abbey, proves that he's also got impeccable comic timing.  Lisa Lambe and Aoibhinn McGinnity as Ross's estranged wife, Sorcha, and her best friend Erika (lately revealed to be Ross's half sister...but that a whole different story) are delightfully arch as they prattle on about shopping, and Ronan, a 12-year-old Northside thug-in-training, (played by adult actor Laurence Kinlan) is hilariously incomprehensible and perhaps the smartest of the lot.

It's refreshing to see a piece that so directly "takes the piss" out of the current economic situation, especially when it's loaded with local references. For the O'Carroll-Kelly clan, the big joke is the threatened diminishment of their posh lifestyle (their house may only be valued at a measly three million euro now?!) from the prosperous Celtic Tiger days of the late 90s and early aughts.

Rather than tuning out the talk of housing bubbles and financial meltdowns, sometimes the only thing to do is to laugh it off in a room full of Dubliners -- from both sides of the Liffey.

Between Foxrock and a Hard Place runs through November 14th at the Olympia Theatre.

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