ALL VICTIMS OF HOMOPHOBIA

Aodhan Madden's new play, Sea Urchins played at the Project Arts Centre from 8th to 13th August, when it moved to the Tivoli, Dublin. It is inspired by an incident that occurred in Fairview Park some years ago, where a young man, Declan Flynn, was murdered by a gang of 'queerbashers'. The gang was arrested and brought to court, but the youths were given suspended sentences. The case caused quite a public reaction both good and bad, and highlighted some disturbing homophobic tendencies in Irish people. GCN critic, Tony Murphy went along to see the play:

SEA URCHINS, by Aodhan Madden at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin.

After having its world premiere at the Hawkswell in Sligo a few months ago, this play toured the country before finally reaching Dublin. It must have been a disappointment to many that the show only ran for a week at the Project, as there was surely sufficient demand for a three-week run.

The sets comprised of a number of of rostra that formed steps down to the beach at Dun Laoghaire Pier. They were slightly battered round the edges, but this was probably due to the number of venues the company has played. Cider bottles were very much in evidence and as the night wore on their numbers increased. The back wall of the Project was painted to represent the sea/sky, in a crude but effective manner. Most of the action seemed to take place at night, as the set was lit mainly from behind in light-mid blues with cross light fill, again in light blues and key lights from the right (moonlight?), the idea of using orange to represent sodium street lights could have been exploited a lot more.