How many dead babies does it take to kill a play? Unfortunately I found out while watching Star of the Sea at the Draiocht Theatre. This play tells the story of a ship sailing out of famine ravaged Cobh to New York and the interlocking lives of the passengers on board: A long suffering Irish woman becomes servant to a landlord, a man she once loved in her youth, while he battles with his feelings for her and his countless other inner-demons. A farmer flees the woman he impregnated (the same woman, co-incidentally, as above) and is enlisted to murder the landlord, who happens to be forcing starving farmers from their homes. Meanwhile, everyone is starving, and the action is punctuated by the calling out of a list of names of those that died during this dark spot in our country’s history.
Star of the Sea is a bilingual performance, told partly through English and partly through Irish. With such an entanglement of stories, actors doubling up and the decision to employ a non-chronological timeline, there is bound to be some issues of clarity. But what is more difficult to swallow is the onslaught of misery our heroes seem to suffer – the hardships pile up and smother all hope of an escape: from terminal illnesses to unplanned pregnancies, murders, infanticide, suicide, abandonment – it’s all there over the course of the play’s two and a half hour running time. With subject matter so unwaveringly bleak, it’s difficult to find hope to latch onto, to invest in the character’s various plights. Even in the possibility of arrival in America, there is very little exploration and investment – those characters that board the ship and survive the journey are among the lucky few, and yet there seems very little hope, even as they dock and the play draws to a close.
This is of course, a matter of the source material, as Star of the Sea is based on the novel by Joseph O’Connor, and there is much to be said for the powerful visuals of the production. The set and the use of projection is very beautiful and elicits some of the play’s most poignant moments – notably in the scenes involving teaching the names of numerous plants as Gaeilge and a projection of a large body of water -and the sound and set designs are flawless.
A beautiful production, Star of the Sea just needs a glimmer of hope to stop itself from sinking.
Gillian Greer
Details:
Venue: Draíocht, Blanchardstown
Dates: Sept 24 – Sept 26, 2015
Duration: Approx. 2 hrs incl. interval.
Tickets: Tickets: €18