Preview: Pan Narrans’ Bash!

Belfast based theatre company Pan Narrans love storytelling theatre and Neil la Bute’s Bash! is one of the pinnacles of the genre. Three controversial short plays, both inspired by and based on the work of the Ancient Greek writer Euripides, ‘Bash!’ places Greek Tragedy at the heart of modern day America with all of the gruesomeness intact. This piece is an excellent showcase for the emerging talent breaking through the NI theatre scene right now.

BASH is made up of three pieces of short, dark, story-telling theatre, almost confession-like in their intimacy. Featuring characters who are all members of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), it was this play which was responsible for Neil laBute being forced to leave the church.

Iphigenia in Orem

A young man talks to a stranger in a Vegas hotel room, recounting the story of his recently deceased child. 

A Gaggle of Saints

An attractive couple talk to the audience, describing a recent trip to New York city and their interactions with some of the locals.

Medea Redux

A woman recalls her relationship with an old teacher.

Directed by Rhiann Jeffrey, an emerging theatre director and recent recipient of the BBC Performing Arts Fellowship. Having recently directed the Irish Première of Mydidae by Jack Thorne in The MAC for Prime Cut Productions, Rhiann Jeffrey is a perfect fit for Bash!; another sharply focused, challenging double hander.

Her cast comprises of Michael Patrick and Amanda Doherty. Both trained at the prestigious Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, each of these actors have experience in world-class, one-person storytelling theatre.

Soon the be seen in The Abbey Theatre’s Othello, local audiences have previously seen Michael Patrick in I, Banquo, a one man retelling of Macbeth, at The Lyric Theatre, an exceptional show for which Michael earned the following review from the Belfast Times:  “an experienced actor and a natural story teller… [we] were riveted by his performance.. an outstanding piece of theatre… this is theatre at its best.”

Joining Michael is Amanda Doherty. With credits across TV, Film, and Theatre, Amanda’s recent solo work includes Inheritance, her award-winning, original solo show which examined intergenerational PTSD in modern day Northern Ireland. Having toured internationally, including the prestigious Theatre Row, 42nd Street, New York, the show premièred in Derry City, for which Culture NI wrote the following review: “Doherty is an actor of tremendous depth, subtlety and animal physicality – frail, determined, intelligent, haunted. Brave too, prepared to act without a safety net and expose her fear and darkness. . . .”

Bash! runs at The Barracks, First Floor, 8-12 Exchange Place from 24th-26th March, at 7.30pm.

Tickets can be booked at: www.pannarranstheatre.com