The Dole Wide World

Tara Cush and Neill Fleming in The Dole Wide World. Image uncredited.

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Something’s clearly not right. An upturned chair in a cubicle in Parnell Street’s Intreo Office should have security clamouring through the door. Instead, the diminutive Relieving Officer behind the glass continues to converse calmly with the frustrated man sweating in his ill fitting jacket. So begins an hour plus conversation in which the unreasonable argues with the irrational. Rex Ryan’s latest play, The Dole Wide World, like his two characters, suffering a plethora of problems. Ian Toner’s direction compounding matters, even as it disguises a multitude of sins behind some energised and enjoyable moments.

Why a dole office is anybody’s guess? All that matters is Vivienne, a smoker with a secret, is confronted by Justin, another smoker with a secret. Justin’s impassioned pleas falling on curious ears as Vivienne engages despite the risk of physical threat. Tension minimal as we realise Vivienne isn’t playing with half a deck so much as too many decks. Not that Justine is holding Aces either. A diatribe that’s essentially a vaccination conspiracy theory takes up an inordinate amount of time as Justin, a negotiator who can’t negotiate, pleads with the unprofessional desperation of an addict needing a fix. And this before sampling Vivienne's laced cigarettes. Justin less a character so much as a straight man setting up Vivienne’s deluded rantings. And Vivienne loves to talk, even as Justin can barely string a sentence together; this man out of his depth whose only concern is his reputation. The introduction of a knife, a hostage, and an ineffectual bottle of Brasso, each substituting for a plot, yields less thrills so much as incredulity when we finally learn what’s really at stake. That events would have been allowed drag on under such circumstances defying belief in any world. By the time its non explosive ending arrives, Ryan’s irredeemable characters have failed to make you care whether they live or die, whatever their mental health issues. For whom children are their real victims, pawns in their sorry justifications of self-worth.

Tara Cush and Neill Fleming in The Dole Wide World. Image uncredited.

Visually, civil service lighting, despite the occasional psychological flicker, adheres to naturalism even as Ryan’s text proves a mishmash of stylings. The result similar to a ham, salmon and cornflake pizza in which competing flavours cancel each other out. The naturalist set also proving something of a pyrrhic victory. Sight lines comprised depending on position, ensuring the televisual glass as mirror is hit and miss as a stage effect. The office reassembled for the final image looking odd rather than captivating. The physical divide between characters as much a psychological divide, even if the divide being frequently traversed undermines its metaphorical and literal significance. Leaving dialogue to do the heavy lifting and not being up to the task. In sustained dialogue between two people nuance is crucial to depicting the complexity of a character’s inner states and attitudes. Little of which is evident as both Tara Cush and Neill Fleming pitch their tents on a one dimensional landscape under Toner’s direction. Toner treating the whole like a single, energised scene rather than a complex play. Cush’s smarmy Dublinese delivered with unchanging pace even as Vivienne’s self-awareness grows. Fleming’s desperation a one trick panic attack. Vivienne and Justin less characters so much as mouthpieces for the author's musings. The silver lining being Cush, a criminally strong talent weaving so much out of so little. Fleming, having a lot less to work with and being restricted to the one tone of desperation, makes the best with what he has. Both performers showing they’ve much more in the tank. Especially Cush, whose presence, detail and energy predict great things to come.

High in energy, but lacking tension, suspense, or real thrills, The Dole Wide World’s cleverest thing is arguably its title. Lately, Glass Mask have been involved in lots of promotional spin and myth making. While no one can blame them promoting themselves, not everyone is buying the PR they’re selling. PR for The Dole Wide World also suffering from curious spin. Neither character is trying to save the other’s life, only their own. The play doesn’t explore motherhood, meaning, violence and the state's handling of individuals on the edges of society so much as exploit them. With little real thrills, calling this a thriller seems moot. Also, talk of Tarantino creates a comparison which The Dole Wide World doesn't remotely live up to. In the end, The Dole Wide World never squares with the terms it sets for itself and gets impaled on its own ambitions. Here’s hoping Glass Mask don’t do the same. With The Dole Wide World Glass Mask again deserve applause for producing new work and introducing exciting young talents like the hugely promising Cush. No one else has had the vision, the guts or the lunacy. But this isn't their first rodeo, and with the honeymoon period over expectations are rising. Can they deliver? Can they rise above being a dressed up, A Play, A Pie and A Pint venue? I, for one, still believe they can.