‘Your Own Man/Mad Notions’ is a multidisciplinary piece offering dance, soundscape, comedy and film, served up with a big dollop of existential crises on the side.
We are met at the door by Luke Murphy himself, offering us a drink. While I imagine this could disarm the viewer, it actually comes across quite tender, like Murphy is our friendly neighbourhood host for the evening, not just a performer. The intimacy of the venue is accentuated by Murphy’s forays into the audience, making us his compadres, his romantic trysts of evenings past, (and maybe most worryingly) his mic stand. We are accomplices to his adventure, not just voyeurs. When Murphy begins to move he is tightly wound, energetic and full of pining. We sit, impassive, as reviews for Murphy’s previous works play over a soundscape. Murphy seems to reach for something and the realisation slowly settles that maybe it is approval he is trying to grasp, from his reviews, from us. The well paced show ticks along, dialogue and anecdote peppered between yearnful movement. The piece is most emotional when no words are spoken at all.
At it’s heart, ‘Your Own Man/Mad Notions’ is a baring of the soul. A confessional. Murphy brings us through his own conflicting views of Ireland – questions about home and his ‘Irishness’ being brought up again and again during his travels and life spent abroad, and maybe we realise that we too don’t know enough about our own cultural identity.
Filmed scenes of Murphy in different locations open with almost ritualistic tamping of the ground like he is trying to call something up, to make his mark, to leave a dent. When the dance is done, has he done just that?
There’s a lot of food for thought here, the anecdotes and stories Murphy shares ring true and loud for the audience – the ‘products of our generation’ – lost in this swathe of ‘Irishness’. One half of the coin what the world sees of us, and the other half the coin murky with our own ideas and expectations. A real gem of a show.
JD
Details:
Tickets: €11
Dates: Sep 16 — 19 @ 20:00
Tickets: €13 / €11 conc. [Buy tickets]
Duration: 55 mins
Venue: Bewley’s Cafe Theatre @ Powerscourt