Review

Texaco Children’s Art Competition, Cork Vision Centre

The 59th edition of the Texaco Children’s Art Competition has thrown up its usual range of talents. Some remain raw, while others are very polished indeed, demonstrating abilities in drawing and painting that should make them the envy of their elders, let alone their peers.

There is a large amount of portraiture this year, and much of it is good.

Shania McDonagh’s Denis is one obvious highlight, a painting that captures with uncanny accuracy the red and pink hues of its elderly subject’s skin, the while bristles on his chin, and even the touch of yellow in his hair that suggests he is a smoker. Simon Minias’s drawing, My Sister Sophie, is every bit as accomplished, with perfect skin tones and a remarkable attention to detail, particularly in describing the fall of hair across its subject’s shoulders.

Other portraits range from those of the very young to those of the elderly. Adam Blagburn’s Taking Candy From A Baby captures the wide-mouthed hysteria of an infant girl deprived of her sweeties, while Andrew Fulcher’s Creases of Age is unflinching in its description of an elderly lady’s skin. Of the younger contributors, a special mention must go to Conal Purcell, whose Mr Conal Purcell is so good-humoured and gaily-coloured an exercise in self-portraiture it surely bears comparison to the work of Paul Klee. The fact that the artist is just six only adds to its appeal.

The exhibition also features one finely drawn study of a classical building, complete with pillars and a dome, in Greg Shevlin’s Great Architecture, and a number of nature paintings. Of these, Blaithin Maura Cosgrave’s highly detailed Hawfinch, Matthew Goff’s beautifully coloured Frog and Emma Miley’s larger than life The Unpredictable Wasp are surely the most commendable.

Ordinarily, the effect of so much work being exhibited together — there are scores of pieces in the show — would merely serve to overwhelm the viewer. In this instance, it speaks of a welcome abundance of young talent that is only to be encouraged.

* Until Aug 27.

* 4 out of 5 stars

Theatre Review: Sisters, Cork Arts Theatre

By Jo Kerrigan

Declan Hassett’s tense psychological drama, Sisters, is a tightly concentrated piece, compressing the life stories of two siblings into the compass of just two hours. Two women, with two such different lives, yet in the end, though warped by jealousy and regret, they are still bound by the ties of shared experience and — in every way — blood.

Gerry McLoughlin doesn’t just take on the roles of Martha and Mary, she totally becomes both. In the first act, a tired and confused countrywoman, habituated to losing out on the happier things in life, longing for affection and enshrining forever in her heart the memory of her beloved father, moves falteringly around the narrow confines of the kitchen that has always been her existence. Rough in voice and gesture, bewildered in expression, her pitiable figure and sad memories bring the audience to the edge of tears. Why should such a gentle harmless person endure such treatment? In act two, you think the part of Mary is surely being played by another actress. Elegant, polished, controlled, taking her listeners into roguish confidences, this is a woman who has been out in the world, wielded authority, held down a good job. The change from one sister to the other is far more than a simple alteration in clothes and words. It comes totally from inside and is frighteningly convincing. And now we see the other side of the coin, shared experiences from quite a different angle.

The set of a small country kitchen is simple yet subtly evocative, conveying perfectly in its domestic detail the sense of a confining, lost life to one sister, the security and safety of home to the other. Director Michael Twomey keeps the pace tight and never allows the tension to slacken, as the audience is gradually, almost unconsciously, drawn into the network of regrets, memories, childhood jealousies and adult grudges. The handling of the final minutes, when we slowly realise the full horror that lies hidden below the surface, is superbly effective.

* Runs until Aug 17.

* 4 out of 5 stars.