Theatre Review - By the Bog of Cats

Abbey Theatre, Dublin

Marina Carr’s much admired play centres on Hester Swane (Susan Lynch), a wild misfit woman living on the boglands on the edge of a small midlands town.

Already alienated from a community festering with hypocrisy, brutality, and perversion, Hester is pushed over the edge when she is discarded by the love of her life and father to her child, Carthage Kilbride (Barry O’Connor). On the day when he is set to marry another woman, Hester decides that there will be hell to pay, and, with its heady blend of Greek tragedy, country shtick, and gothic aesthetics, the production doesn’t short-change us. Hell is paid up in full.