Quite speechless… that would be simply an understatement of mine. I personally have seen theatre performances multiple times per week for the past few years — before the pandemic, of course — and attempts at ‘online theatre’. As one can imagine, we see a lot of recycled performances – similar structures, the very well-known Irish kitchen set, the stereotypical characters entrapped in a society that is actually unseen in our contemporary multicultural Irish zeitgeist, anything to keep us going until we reach an unconscious state of being fed the same artistic pleasures again and again for the mere sake of it. There was no better time for the audiences to have perceived this play by Marina Carr and the fierce, present, animalistic and soul touching performance of Olwen Fouéré. iGirl has awakened the spectators from such a monotonous trance. iGirl was bold, thought provoking, and – I am surprised to say it myself – game-changing in Irish theatre and in the National Theatre; well, let’s hope so.

 

For the first time in a while I saw a heavily physical performance, not simply script-to-stage (and in the Abbey Theatre!) that embraced many other aspects also, from pragmatic nuances to bodily autonomy. The minimalist set encouraged the audiences to activate their imaginative minds, the prosody of the words—including one or two phrases in French—was alluring and its structure resembled an epic poem. It was loaded with myths and classics: Oedipus, Antigone, Joan of Arc:

 

                                        ‘I saw Eden / It wasn’t much’ 

 

The performance was the premier of Caitríona McLaughlin (in The Abbey Theatre) and certainly, at least from my perspective, she has piqued curiosity as to what she will be up to next in The Abbey Theatre. Our National Theatre is under pressure now I must say, Caitríona has raised the game and finally, I have seen a provoking piece in The Abbey! It was a quite strong performance overall, with actual physicality. It was visceral – the movement and the presence of Olwen was remarkable. 

 

I don’t think I have ever spoken so well of a piece before, and yet I find myself wordless afterwards — besides Sarah Jane’s Scaife Company which was in the Project Arts Centre (2017, as I can recall), Clare Dunnes Sure Look It, Fuck It (2019), and one or two other pieces.

iGirl has entered my quite small list of unforgettable performances, and I believe it shall enter the list of game-changing performances in the future of Irish theatre.