Theatre review: Dublin by Lamplight, Abbey Theatre, Dublin
“It’s not about the plays, it’s about the building!” implores Willy Hayes as his plans to establish the Irish National Theatre of Ireland lie in tatters around him as events spin out of control in Michael West’s wonderful play.
It’s a line typical of the play’s versatile, allusive humour; a joke which, in 2004, poked fun at the tiresome debate on relocating the Abbey Theatre. Now, 13 years later, the in-joke is in-house, at the Abbey itself, still at the same address after all that Celtic Tiger hubris.
