Quirky taxidermy tale is the stuff of comic genius
The title refers to the old philosophical problem of an ass faced with a bale of hay on either side of him. Unable to choose which to eat, he dies. It’s a lofty idea to use for this delightfully offbeat comedy by SR Plant about a taxidermist named Mahone. His name is just one of a number of puns that litter the play, a comic verbal crossbreed between Monty Python and the Goons.
It charts the dedication and obsessive lunacy of Mahone, collector of dead animals, exotic and otherwise, which he stuffs – although mounts is his preferred word – and tries to sell in his Taxidermy Emporium in Dublin. However, business is very bad; in fact there’s none.
Which is why he’s able to spend a lot of time discussing his life and philosophy with gormless assistant Ernest, who is busily involved in trying to prepare a badger turned inside-out for stuffing.
Mahone recounts his escapades around the world as he went in search of material, and getting involved in dubious and hectic romantic affairs en route.
However, he still has to solve his own Buridan’s ass problem, a matter of life and death, with only Ernest to guide him. At some stage he must make a vital choice.
Michael James Ford gives a cracker of a performance as the zealously nutty Mahone, and Ruairí Heading is a splendid foil as Ernest, a kind of bemused Laurel to Ford’s exasperated Hardy. And to add to it all there are stuffed animal heads and bodies around the theatre, no doubt from SR Plant’s own remarkable collection.