Cork Midsummer review: Pool play dives in with ambitious production at Metropole
Liv O'Donoghue, Jacob McCarthy, Evanna Lynch, and Rowan Finken in Pool (No Water). Picture: Marcin Lewandowski
Pool (No Water), Metropole Hotel, Cork Midsummer Festival, ★★★☆☆
Pool (No Water) by the British playwright Mark Ravenhill was first staged in 2006, the subject matter of art and its commodification reflecting the era of the YBAs, when artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin exploded onto the scene, using rotting sharks, bodily fluids and their personal lives as raw material.
There is a bold artistic statement too at the centre of this staging by the Everyman Theatre, which utilises the empty pool at the former leisure centre in the nearby Metropole Hotel as its setting.
A group of artists who once soldiered together in the bohemian trenches have reconvened years later at the luxurious home of their far wealthier and more successful friend who urges them to “enjoy the pool”. Resentment and bitterness has set in with ‘the gang’ while cancer and Aids has claimed two of their number (the unnamed hostess used her friend’s “blood and bandages and catheter and condoms... in pieces sold to every major collector in the world”).
When she takes a near-fatal dive, her friends see an opportunity to restore some balance in their relationship, and the line between art and exploitation becomes ever more blurred as things take an orgiastic turn and it all, literally, goes up in flames.
There are many witty and incisive moments and although two decades old, the play’s themes are more relevant than ever in this social media age when everyone else’s ‘success’ is visible to all. It also succeeds in capturing the often vampiric nature of art, as well as friendship. The piece employs a collective monologue which is handled well by the actors, with a particularly strong performance from Rowan Finken who brings some poignancy to his role.
The interludes of movement which punctuate the show are sinuously choreographed by Luke Murphy, but could have been deployed more evenly throughout. The boldness and novelty of the staging is commendable but undermines the play somewhat, with the clarity of the script and performance sacrificed to the concept.
While the pool serves as an obvious plot point, as a setting it is counterproductive, becoming more limiting than expansive as the play progresses. The frantic movement of the actors in and around the pool and the audience at times distracts more than focuses the attention, leaving one to wonder if the play would have had increased power and impact in a less literal and more confined space.
- Pool (No Water) continues until June 27. See everymancork.com
