ARTS Top Fringe threatre at The Linenhall

Top Fringe theatre at The Linenhall


‘The Event’, a hugely acclaimed piece of theatre and a winner of the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe First Award, comes to The Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Wednesday, April 14, at 8pm.
Written and directed by American playwright John Clancy and performed by David Calvitto, ‘The Event’ is a deceptively simple piece of theatre. It playfully but profoundly leads the audience to question not only the nature of reality, but the very nature of existence itself. It has been hailed for delivering a profound, thought-provoking, imaginative experience in a masterful and accessible way.
A play about a play, and ultimately about itself, its clever use of language and gesture draws the audience in so that they become part of the play – inverting perspective, toying with accepted roles.
But there’s a grave message behind the director’s playfulness with the theatrical medium, one that challenges the audience to realise that a good deal of what is accepted as reality is infact illlusion. Reviewing the play in The Guardian, Lyn Gardiner said: “Calvitto stands on stage and deconstructs everything he is doing – the entire theatre-going experience. It’s funny and cute, but just when you think you’ve got the joke, the monologue lurches into darker, more invigorating territory, and you start to realise that the show is deadly serious … ‘The Event’ is a wake-up call.”  
The staging of this play is a rare opportunity to see a Fringe First in the west of Ireland. Grab it with both hands.