Jane Hardy

Copy link The first night of Northern Ireland Opera’s Eugene Onegin was also the Last Night of the Proms. I was happy to skip Land of Hope and Glory to be honest to see a live, at times moving, version of Tchaikovsky’s 1897 strangely modern opera. It deals with human love, loss, psychology, the imbalance between the sexes when it comes to the tender emotion. Director Cameron Menzies has had an intriguing idea, of framing the opera with an old wheelchair bound lady, presumably the heroine Tatyana, recalling her youth. It works for a while, with the lady holding a childish balloon but soon becomes rather laboured. We didn’t need her remembrance of things past in the intense second act scenes between Onegin and younger Tanya. The “mists of memory” referenced by the director in his programme note were maybe just too misty.

Copy link Wasted is one of the most hi-energy, physically speedy productions, even by Bruiser Theatre standards, I have seen. The characters jitter, sometimes judder with emotion and move from the start. It’s a slice of issue theatre and deals with the question of sexual consent and drunkenness in women. Young women, as our relatable protagonist Emma (excellent Sharon Duffy) seems scarcely of age to be downing Tequila shots. The questions surrounding her one night stand, which she can’t quite remember due to alcohol, pile up and we gain a couple of possible narratives. It’s complicated, messy, above all believable, And of course, worrying as she goes with her mate for a morning after pill.

Copy link I was curious to see Rose + Bud, Rose Coogan’s new play, having interviewed her for The Sunday Times a couple of years ago. It was a brave exercise but weirdly undramatic, even though the raw material is full of drama. This is first person central theatre, an account of Coogan’s trans journey towards womanhood and pulls no punches. There were difficult moments, moments of complex decision making – to fumble with Conor, the fancied next door neighbour or not, the throwing up in the Ladies loo – but often the tone was comic with rapid changes of gear. Audience members near me laughed quite a bit as Ballynahinch came in for its share of giggling, also Derry where Coogan goes to study for a drama degree.

Copy link The sheer intensity of Yerma’s childless pllght, and sorrow, shone through Tinderbox’s version of Lorca’s 1930s drama at the Lyric Theatre. She howled, repeatedly asked why she couldn’t bear a child, heard babies crying in her head. Caoimhe Farren was remarkable, believable when she gets drunk and somewhat aggressive as the wicked godmother at a family christening. The scene where the baby unravels to reveal an empty shawl and cotton wool in her arms was touching in the extreme.

Copy link Although not strictly one of Priestley’s so called time plays, An Inspector Calls pretty much qualifies as the playwright plays with our sense of linear time in a magnificent twist in the tale. The play, a bit of a socialist call to arms, details the worst night in the life of the affluent, complacent Birling family around 1912. Yet the atmosphere recalls the 1940s, in cinematic style and with air raid sirens sounding, which is when the play was written. Stephen Daldry’s brilliantly designed production captivated a full Grand Opera House last night. The set is intriguing, involving a suspended grand house that opens out like a doll’s house and eventually collapses, indicating the rise and fall of this example of the upper classes.

Copy link The problem with naming Aurora, Prime Cut’s new drama from Dominic Montague, a ‘modern myth’ is that expectations will be as big as the problem addressed, ie the desecration of the planet. In the end, this was simply the tale of 90s eco warrior Swampy updated with our tree hugger and saviour Cass (Meghan Tyler) adding in some magic for good measure. The plot dealt with a Donegal village where a gold mine was presenting material temptation to half the populace, while threatening the landscape and greenery which didn’t please the other half. We didn’t get to meet the villagers in this four hander, but there was a touch of Local Hero about the reports of protests from primal screamers, bikers and an orgiastic group which sounded interesting.

A cross the Middle East, there has been a strong tradition of women's resistance and activism against imperialism for more than a century.

Copy link Listening to Rachmaninov; all-night Vigil at the Cappella Caeciliana concert on Sunday, you gained a different sense of the romantic Russian composer. The Vespers are written in Russian Orthodox musical language, based on religious chants, with the recognisable colour and control. What links the two, religious and romantic, is high emotion and it’s revealing that Rachmaninov aid this was one of his favourite compositions. It was written quickly, in two weeks, yet has been described as ‘one of the last great crowning achievement of Russian Orthodox choral music’,

Copy link Imagine a world where men, rather than women, are seen as sex objects first and foremost, with six packs more important than brain power or banter. Where male beauty is routinely commented on. It already exists and you can enter it via a ticket to Dreamboys, the premier UK male stripper outfit which toured on a Baltic night to Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on Thursday. They didn’t disappoint although this was a Stripped back outing, so no full frontal nudity apart from a naughty teasing sequence with Ryan (apparently the best endowed dreamboy) at the end.

Copy link Transporting the story of Wilma Creith, the first Northern Irish trans bus driver, onto an actual stationary bus via the Greek myth of our last journey was a clever move in Kabosh Theatre’s production Suspect Device.Playwright Raphael Amahl Kouri has moved the Lagan to the Styx and the result is a tale told by the dead about the living. It enables us to understand Wilma’s tough choice as a matter of life and death. It is of course a story of prejudice against difference, but also generosity, and was compelling in the show premiering this week in the narrow theatre.