Dublin Theatre Festival 2024: 0800 Cupid

0800 Cupid. Image by Eoin Greally with Niall Sweeney

****

Misery loves company, but company’s decided it’s time they broke-up. In fairness, you wonder what took them so long? It’s not that Emer Dineen’s drag persona, Cupid, isn’t fun. It’s that Dineen’s self-absorption could set Olympic records. Her girlfriend breaking up with her mid-set at the dive that is Pinky’s is, admittedly, a genuine complaint. As is her struggle with Tourettes, her father’s growing dementia, and the bees squatting in her wall. But if that constitutes a post pandemic, pre apocalypse existential crisis, we’re all fucked. Still, if we have to go out, let Dineen throw the party. She may moan at a world class level, but with 0800 Cupid she shows she knows how to have fun. Joy, not so much, but she’s certainly a fun host. And let director Phillip McMahon set up the party. Anyone who can transform Dineen’s monologue of moan into a feel good, foot tapping musical deserves to be organising every party.

Though let’s not have the party at Pinky’s. A drag bar that gives dive bars a bad name. Where Dineen and her fabulous backing singers and all round paragons of fabulousness Carl Harrison and Isabel Adomakoh Young strut their stuff. Performing live with musicians Osazee Aiguokhian, Tom Beech and Michael McCarthy, Dineen’s Cupid persona - one part Elvis, one part Liberace, and one part Magnum moustache - sets the stage alight with their song and dance routines. Until the breakup sends Cupid crashing and Dineen spinning off to find herself. An encounter with some bees, her cowboy Dad, the universe, and a man dealing with bereavement might shift her focus off herself. But will it be enough to save her?

Despite being a musical, structurally 0800 Cupid is a ready made play. A one person, woe is my life monologue finding redemption by facing hard truths courtesy of a quirky outsider. Under McMahon’s astute direction, a multitude of narrative sins are concealed behind a shoestring of cabaret kitsch that’s gorgeously good fun. Most importantly, Dineen’s songs and singing are genuinely great. Co-composed with Beech, Dineen's ballads tug the heart strings, talk to God, or become foot tappers that get you dancing. In the end, Cupid proves to be a mask hiding a genuine treasure. For Dineen is an unparalleled talent. Forget Cillian Murphy, Cork’s real superstar is Dineen. And the world is going to know it. A talent this big can’t possibly be contained. Dineen is simply phenomenal.

0800 Cupid by Emer Dineen, presented by THISISPOPBABY, runs at The Project Arts Centre as part of  Dublin Theatre Festival 2024 until October 5.

For more information visit Dublin Theatre Festival 2024 or Project Arts Centre