Theatre review: Hugo Weaving and Olwen Fouéré shine in The President 

As well as big names putting in powerful performances, this production of Thomas Bernhard's play has much to recommend

Olwen Fouéré and Hugo Weaving in The President, at the Gate Theatre. Picture: Ros Kavanagh

The President, Gate Theatre, Dublin, ★★★★☆

The great Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard, whose 1975 play The President is given here what Cork director Tom Creed says is a first outing in English, was reputed to have said “in my writing the musical component comes first, and the subject matter is secondary".