Described as a story of myth, legend, and identity, whilst Anna Ní Dhúill’s play is certainly ambitious in exploring what it means to be non-binary, it ultimately comes up short.
Cult Collective’s show revolves around an unnamed artist (Seoirsín Bashford) as they wait in their studio for their partner to come home so that they can reveal their secret and finally come out as non-binary.
As they wait, they begin to delve into their recent obsession with an old Irish legend about a bull that caused an all-island war many centuries before. When the bull comes alive, a battle of monologues begins, as they fiercely debate whether it is better to live as your true self and potentially be alone for it, or to exist only in other people’s expectations and remain a legend.
Whilst the premise is simple – to articulate what it means to be non-binary – this is not actually what we get. Instead, we are presented with a toxic masculinity saddled to the bull of folklore whilst in contrast feminism is supportive and loving. Or, in really simplistic terms, all men are bad, all women are good, and a third way is well, complicated. Rather than a consideration of the issues at the heart of its subject, it seems more of a preach to the converted.
The articulation also fails to acknowledge the recent UK Supreme Court ruling or Trump’s missives on gender, and when it takes aim at the Irish male, it does so on the grounds of nationalism/republicanism, yet it is the Irish Women’s football team that were recently castigated for singing Up The Ra.
Promoted as being in Irish with English surtitles, the opening monologue and one later on were performed in English and it was unclear as to why. Surtitles need to keep pace with the unfolding drama, but this was often not the case and was further compounded by grammatical and spelling errors, and given it is not the production’s first outing, there is no excuse for that. The language and its translation seemed somewhat antiquated and overwrought, and whilst this may have been intended to differentiate between the older, historical allusions and the modern day, it featured as heavily in the thoughts and words of the artist.
The key to good theatre is communication and given the importance and sensitivity of this subject matter, I do wonder whether the piece just from a touring perspective could have been performed in English throughout. Raised surtitles continually draw the audience’s eyes upwards, removing the important connection an actor needs to establish with them, particularly with work constructed solely of monologues, which was a real shame here as an impressive Bashford is a naturally expressive performer.
There appears to be a trend developing in theatre for writers to perform and/or direct their own work and the lack of artistic check that, in this instance, an independent director can provide is particularly telling in a production that moves between two monologues and needs a greater sense of on-stage drama than easels, a hairy coat and plastic horns provide. Show don’t tell is the accepted guidance yet far too often this production descended into lecture.
I’ve always liked Gabriel Byrne’s approach of assuming that your audience are intelligent and letting them work it out for themselves: the themes here are certainly complex and defy a simple re-telling. I can’t help but feel this is a missed opportunity to engage over the similarities that all young people face as they emotionally mature and come to terms with their gender and orientation amongst other challenges, rather than focus on proscribed stereotypical differences.
Reviewer: Mark Davoren
Reviewed: 9th May 2025
North West End UK Rating: