The intricacies and occasionally infernal depths of the WWW are most profoundly investigated and exploited by those whose first literacy was expressed through a keyboard rather than a pen. GYT's careful production of Enda Walsh's 'Chatroom' explores the bytes that can bite.

It is today's computer literate teenager, then, who is most exposed and is assumed to be most vulnerable to the Internet's legendary freedom and anonymity. Walsh (who is clearly de rigueur for theatre impresarios at this year's Galway Arts Festival) uses this method of contemporary 'social networking' as a dramatic device to expose adolescent depression, expression and bullying in his popular 2005 play.

Six characters in search of a cause meet anonymously and virtually on 'Galwaysbloodyoppiniated.com', an internet chatroom for teenagers. They uncover one. Jim, sunk in an existentialist gloom, goes online and publicly contemplates suicide as a form of vengeance against his dysfunctional parents. This gives William, Jack, Eva, Emily and Laura the opportunity to either encourage or dissuade him. They flex their virtual muscles...

Director Andrew Flynn manages to avoid some of the obvious dramatic problems created by a play about six characters who never actually meet physically. Despite the fact they only communicate through a keyboard, Flynn maintains tension and he highlights what Walsh has achieved here: to fashion what seems to be an authentically adolescent voice. Like the strange and transitory stage of life it articulates, this is a voice that fluctuates from the naive, to the cynical and to the implosively, anxiously reflective: Britney Spears is claimed to be mediated by pervert producers, J. K. Rowling is denounced as exploitative, adults are oppressors, but dressing up as a penguin or cowboy is retro and cool. To steal from a YouTube blog site: 'I Saw This Play Chatroom Last Night With My Class It Was Like Watching My Life Story On Stage...It Will Definatly [sic]Help You To See That Your [sic] Not Alone...'. Salinger for the 21st Century, perhaps?

GYT actors Eamon Doran, Owen Binchy, Aimee Riordan, Shauna O'Connor, Eoin Butler Thornton and Beau Holland near the climax to what has been a long and successful run for their show. On Owen MacCarthaigh's colourful and witty set (a pastiche of keyboard and monitor) to a soundtrack ranging from Oompa-Loompas to The Undertones, the crew handle 'Chatroom' with passion, professionalism and discipline: the mark of all GYT's productions. They clearly 'get teenage kicks right through the night', but at the core of an actor is also the voice, however, and the ambitious amongst this engaging troupe will not neglect the long work they will have to do to develop projection.

This year's Galway Arts Festival hosts a wide web of Walsh's work and GTY's production of Chatroom is a site well worth logging on to. Teenage dreams are, indeed, hard to beat.

'Chatroom' runs at Nuns Island Studio at 1pm until Saturday 26 July. Tickets may still be available from the Galway Arts Festival Box office on Merchants Road. For those whom a 'chatroom' is old hat: buy online at www.galwayartsfestival.com.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment