Dublin Fringe Festival 2024: Cortisol

Cortisol. Image, Simão Nogueira.

***

When it comes to a sinking script, a good director can steer it to shore. A great director can find enough of its heart to show you what could've been. Such is the case with director Jeda de Brí whose impressive work on debut play Cortisol, by sisters Megan and Shannon Haly conceals a multitude of sins. Its ready-made formula of traumatised heroine suffering life in her twenties foregrounds two impressive performers who, alas, make for two second rate writers. For no matter how much de Brí dresses it up, there’s very little meat, and less originality, on this cliched, bone dry skeleton.

A lopsided, radio play passed off as story telling theatre, Cortisol follows childhood friends Sam and Izzy through Sam’s mother's death, diverging life choices, separation at college, Sam moving to Berlin, and Sam’s endless self-pity which she calls her twenties. Simply put, it’s all about Sam. Izzy, like Sam’s mother, grandmother, or her girlfriend Sophie, little more than walk on parts in Sam's self-induced victimhood. Cleverly switching characters between performers strives, but fails, to enforce a degree of intimacy that simply isn't there. Wanting us to believe this relationship flourishes when everything suggests it died ages past. Its continued existence little more than habit that breaks down under the barest scrutiny. As when Izzy announces her exciting news. Sam turning it into yet another excuse as to why she’s so unhappy. Salvaged by a neat twist at the end that, if psychologically trite, proves dramatically sweet.

With its short scenes and televisual structure, Cortisol resembles Tik Tok theatre. Emotional soundbites and dramatic flashcards overlaid by cliched Hallmark text. What keeps it interesting is the manner in which de Brí composes the space, allows energy to flow and performances rise above the script, highlighting Megan and Shannon Haly as having considerable presence and talent. As writers, not so much. Jenny Whyte’s three podium set, Dara Hoban’s lights and Fiona Shiel’s sound design going a long way to compensating for Cortisol’s dramatic and emotional shallowness. Joan Didion famously said, “I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be.” In Cortisol, clinging to those people fails to deliver and fails to convince. Even as the Haly sisters turn in valiant performances and de Brí cements her reputation as one of the best directors around.

Cortisol, by Megan and Shannon Haly, directed by Jeda de Brí, runs at Smock Alley Theatre as part Dublin Fringe Festival 2024 until Sept 21.

For more information visit Smock Alley Theatre or Dublin Fringe Festival 2024.