DUBLIN FRINGE 2026: Review: THE POLITICS OF DISGUST, Bewley's Café Theatre
Play Not Funny’s corporate HR satire collapses under chaotic escalation at Dublin Fringe.
Framed as an emergency corporate seminar run by HR trainers Susan Pork and Susan Beanz, The Politics of Disgust tries to show how social repulsion gets used as a political weapon to exclude people. It is a smart premise on paper. Using the dry, polite language of workplace sensitivity training to expose institutional hypocrisy is a clever idea.
Unfortunately, creators and performers Constance Henry and Niall Keane bury that strong central idea under a messy pile of random formats. The show quickly abandons its corporate frame to jump between mock podcasts, culture-war speeches, bunker comedy, and family melodrama. Instead of building dramatic momentum or deepening its main point, the production relies on raw volume and chaotic escalation. The result feels exhausting rather than funny or insightful.
The satire also misses the mark by flattening every target. While the text tries to dissect reactionary rhetoric through deliberate outrage, the jokes rely mostly on superficial recognition instead of sharp observation. When every political position is turned into an over-the-top caricature and every news story becomes a punchline, the critique loses its edge and turns into noise. While surrounding audience members laughed throughout, it remained ambiguous whether they were enjoying individual bits or buying into the overarching framework.
Visually, the production works best in its intentional shabbiness. The poorly formatted slideshows and blurry stock photos effectively parody corporate incompetence, showing how bureaucratic polish often masks real cruelty.
However, the performances lack the control needed to anchor such chaotic material. Henry and Keane bring plenty of energy, but the production ultimately confuses making the audience feel disgusted with actually analyzing how disgust works in society.
The Politics of Disgust plays at Bewley’s Café Theatre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival through September 13.
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