MISTERMAN
MISTERMAN, Siren Theatre Co in association with RedLine Productions at the Old Fitz, 10-27 June 2015. Photography by Diana Popovska: above and right: Thomas Campbell.
In an abandoned warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of the Irish village of Inishfree the pious Thomas Magill (Thomas Campbell) apparently subsists on cans of Fanta and packets of Jammie Dodgers. It’s a diet that suggests acute sugar overload and reason enough for the way he relates and enacts in manic fashion a day in the life of the village and his own self.
As God is his witness, the good folk of Inishfree get it in the neck as he reveals their not-so-secret vices, real and imagined. But is the drunken Tim O’Leary listening? Does Mrs Cleary pause for a moment in her quest for outer cleanliness (“the Harpic” is a wicked substance)? No, rather Magill is cast against the fecklessly blasphemous mob in a torrent of vividly rendered characters, like a darker, crazier Under Milk Wood. Or perhaps – surrounded as he is by archaic reel-to-reel tape recorders and cassette players that intermittently crackle into life with snatches of voices and disparate sounds (wondrous sound design by Nate Edmondson) – there’s a touch of Krapp’s Last Tape too.
Nevertheless, Enda Walsh is his own man despite the echoes of Dylan Thomas and Beckett and Misterman is a tour-de-force of unsettling, poetic yet hard-edged lyricism as Magill interjects and engages with the unseen villagers. Directed with subtle focus and clarity by Kate Gaul, the 70 minutes are a kaleidoscope of imagery made dynamic by Thomas Campbell’s sustained energy and intelligence.
Like so many well meaning extreme zealots, what eventually happens at the end of this day are events you wouldn’t wish upon a dog – or the angels from heaven – and the dramatic intensity is ramped up in the intimate space of the Old Fitz (beautifully lit by Hartley TA Kemp) to tangible effect. Simplicity and complexity combine in a virtually flawless production from Kate Gaul and Thomas Campbell. Not to be missed.
