No Escape, the latest installment in a documentary-theatre series at Dublin's Project Arts Centre, is interesting to say the least. By no stretch of the definition can it be labeled a play, but it isn't reality, either.
The documentary piece acted as an expose into The Ryan Report (for the non-Irish, it's an in depth investigation into child abuse in the church school systems). Not a happy subject, eh? In a nutshell, it was an evening over-stuffed with facts, data, and cold hard information.
I don't know if it's appropriate to say that I enjoyed the play, but it most certainly kept me thinking and engaged. The layout is very much a subjective one, where the slue of information will either affect or deter you. In my case, the over-innundation of facts made it all the more personal, conveying, intriguing. It made you feel suffocated, as if it would never end, and that is the reality of the situation.
On a production level, I have to say that it was flawed. The main actor flubbed his lines on more than one occasion, and for the most part I forgive it. I understand that it’s hard to memorize all of those details, but also - you’re a professional actor, man. Also, the “theatrical” detail of the cast writing on glass would have been much more effective if done consistently. I wanted to see every glass panel covered in dates and statistics so that the feeling of suffocation could be intensified.
At the end of it, I felt like I was watching a live episode of Dateline. That's not necessarily a bad thing, just simply not what I expected.
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