Tag Archives: Music

The very fact that the Abbey ever allowed the ever eccentric thisispopbaby’s inside the door of the Peacock is exciting. To be honest, I had begun to tire of the Abbey, and feel disillusioned at their status as the national theatre. I feel that last Saturday’s WERK at the Peacock reinstated the Abbey somewhat as a theatre that really works to reflect the mood, atmosphere, trends and interests of Ireland as a nation. The fact that this first night of the self proclaiming Performance Arts Club was a sell out is justification enough for its continuing association with the national theatre.

While the staging of the ever popular Macbeth drew to a close on the main stage, (and I did spy some of its stars – Michael McElhatton and Eileen Walsh sneak in after), the gold lame, lipstick and thumping beats were beginning to take pace downstairs. The only thing even remotely similar to WERK that I’ve ever come in contact with before is The Shoestring Collective, but this is on a far more low key. WERK was a heady mix of great Irish writing, from both Mark O’Halloran and Mark O’Rowe (in the form of Andrea Irvine’s performance from Terminus), music (James O’Neill of Bitches with Wolves), art and general fun.

One of the big pluses to the night out was the incredibly low bar charges – €5 for any spirit with a mixer. I loved the old school placement of big bottles of coke, 7up and other mixers on the bar to help yourself, and cans were only €3 for all you beer burpers.

The only thing I could really fault was, ironically enough, the choice of location. Theoretically, of course, the Peacock is the most suitably location, however, logistically, for me it just didn’t work. The space is far too small for the amount of people that were there, the acoustics were horrific and it really was not fair to be constantly shushing people in the adjoining room, who couldn’t see or hear what was going on on stage. I was in the main room, with a perfect view of the stage and had trouble in particular understanding the MC, and really did feel sorry for the other people left outside in the hallway who couldn’t enjoy what was on stage. Of course they were going to chat, it’s a night out with friends, they’re drinking, they can’t see that Andrea Irvine is performing a fantastic piece of acting on stage! I really hope that both the Abbey and thisispopbaby consider moving WERK into the far more spacious main bar in the Abbey.

So, with two more definite dates in the diary for WERK at the Abbey; I’m excited at the idea that the Peacock and the Abbey can be more than just a theatre, it can be a location for people across Dublin to sample new writing, music, art etc. Hmmm, maybe for a national theatre, perhaps WERK should go nationwide?! I think the whole of Ireland needs to go to WERK….