WORDS: KATHERINE MURPHY

 

In two short years PaperDolls have become Ireland’s premier acrobatics company, going from strength to strength. They corner a niche market of theatregoers and have come into their own under Rosie Goan’s management of the Fringe Festival. This meteoric rise marks them as a company to watch and learn from. And their latest offering, Bunk, cements their status as a craft circus company.

A bed haunts the stage, and where you see a bed the world of sleep and dreams is never far away. The performers (Emily Aoibheann, Elaine McCague, and Karen Anderson) move between the world of waking and dreaming. They run with scissors in the dark, revert into a childhood fortress, and physically suspend each other in sleep..

The sound design is as haunting as it is beautiful. Distorted versions of childhood stories score the production, prompting both fear and laughter from the audience. The costumes become layered as the piece progresses, but the original jumpsuits are simultaneously childish and mature. These dualities are also present in the stage design. The larger than life bed is literally alive, swallowing bed sheets while acting as a literal frame for the actors to explore and endure. It is circus after all.

As interesting as it is to watch, there are awkward moments, with hesitant and mishandled costume changes and an undeniably uncomfortable ending (with equal parts nervous laughter, shuffling, and wonder). However, the beauty of the fragmented scenes and the haunting nature of the surroundings ensure that these moments are exactly that: only moments. As the performers wordlessly navigate themselves through a tangled web of sheets and wander through the dreamlike landscape, they maintain a childish innocence. And I was happy just to watch.

Until Saturday.

Bunk is at the Project Arts Centre until September 14th, daily at 6:15 as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival.