Theatre review: Sive

Abbey Theatre, Dublin

John B Keane’s play Sive was famously produced by Listowel Drama Group in 1959, after its rejection by the Abbey Theatre. When Sive swept the boards at the All-Ireland Amateur Drama Festival that year, the Abbey relented, inviting the Listowel players onto the national stage for a week in May.

Much of the beauty of Keane’s writing lay in his use of the vernacular. But this has been parodied so often that the problem for any contemporary production is how to do the accents. Under Conall Morrison’s direction, the current cast mostly manage well.