The Unforgettable Line

Fringe Festivals are known for launching imaginative artists and exploring unconventional art forms.  Content is uncensored and therefore often provocative, sometimes to the point of discomfort.  Those traits are true of HOTHOUSE, a performance work from 2023’s Dublin Fringe.  Written by Carys D. Coburn (co-founder of the award-winning collective, Malaprop), the theatrical statement piece loosely strings together generational abuse, repressed feelings, and Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring, which led to the discontinued use of DDT in farming and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.  

Entering the well-raked, friendly JL Greene Theatre, we are greeted with a medley of “bird” songs from Bye Bye Birdie to Bird is the Word.  This motif continues into Section 1, a performance within a performance on the cruise ship Crystal Prophecy.  Scenes from the life of Ruth — a young girl growing up in an abusive household who finds solace in Carson’s writing — are played out in cabaret style.  Periodically a species of Las Vegas Showgirl “bird” goes dramatically extinct with a little help from the Captain.  The palette and mood tonally shift in Section 2 as our Captain undergoes a “shamanic transformation.” It is the near future and Ruth’s daughter, Ali, is a passenger cruising on the Crystal Prophecy to see the last of the ice caps.  The epilogue moves us further forward into a time when Annie’s great grandson is growing up in a new normal.  Years are displayed boldly within the burning sun stage left to help us keep track.

The family functions more as a container for Coburn’s thoughts on our rapidly changing world, with issues overtaking narrative and character development.  Along the path we hit stock Irish cultural touchstones from whiskey to Enya.  That doesn’t stop the ensemble from quite literally leaving it all on the floor.  For the full 90 minutes, they work as a unit: dancing, singing, and switching roles in an array of campy life-vest orange costumes designed by Molly O’Cathain from the original Irish production and fabulous wigs by Carina Metz from the U.S.creative team.  Director Claire O’Reilly, a Malaprop co-founder, ignores gender and age in leveraging the talent.  The way she stages a flurry of activity towards the end of Section 2 is particularly clever.  Peter Corboy’s Captain functions as the rudder with Thommas Kane Byrne the most fluttery of the sails.  Maeve O’Mahony (another Malaprop co-founder), Bláithín Mac Gabhann, and Ebby O’Toole-Acheampong breathe life into characters who are tragically emotionally out to sea even on dry land.  While it is unlikely you will whistle any of Anna Clock’s songs upon leaving the theater, the tunes do work to connect the various jigsaw pieces.  

Even with little that would pass as realistic dialogue, HOTHOUSE is certain to spark conversation.  Though short on structure, it is long on dizzying feeling and visual impact (The original festival iteration won for Best Ensemble and Best Production Design.)  The North American debut runs through November 17 at the Irish Arts Center, 726 11th Avenue.  Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased at https://irishartscenter.org/event/malaprop-hothouse.