Two In Race For Drama Trophy

A fair few hackles were raised on Wednesday night by Sligo Drama Circle’s production of Sartre’s “Men Without Shadows”, with a number of people leaving the hall rather than continue to endure the psychological and physical brutality on the stage. Myself, I was hugely impressed, having gone along fearing the worst and then getting the best – Sartre’s cynicism played down and his feeling played up. Set in a prison, the play concerns the relationship between captors and captives, the way in which one type almost needs the other to justify his chosen role, and the way in which, ultimately, both are victims. Its essential truths are applicable anywhere.

Producer Liam Mc Kinney (who also designed the excellent set), worked wonders with it. Adopting a perilously slow pace he justified its slowness with its depiction of the gradual, relentless beating down of the idealistic and the noble by the forces of darkness. As captives, Columb Mc Bride and Mick Kilcoyne, in particular, elicited immense sympathy, while Maria Mc Dermottroe as the girl, was quite splendid. One of those theatrical experiences which sharply divided an audience into those who were utterly absorbed and those who loathed it. I think I’ve conveyed which side I found myself on.

Extract from The Irish Press, by John Boland, May 3rd, 1974