FRANTIC PHYSICALITY

Simulated masturbation onstage and anal allusions have become almost a fashion nowadays; cool, audacious and authentic I presume. Michael Patrick’s one-man biographical play, My Left Nut (Bewleys, HHH) about the tribulations and excesses of adolescence also includes his grief over his father’s death when he himself was just eight, the roistering of other teenagers, sexual awakening, manic activity, sombre reflection, drunken puking and above all the trauma and embarrassment of having an outsize testicle appear when he was a teenager. Lacking fatherly advice, it took him a long time to get round to having it checked medically. As a performer, Patrick (pictured left) indulges in the kind of frantic physicality and pathos one associates with Jerry Lewis at his most zany – and most irritating. He extends the wackiness to the people working in the hospital where he goes for examination. All very well when balanced judiciously, but the contrast with that and his more contemplative moments is too stark. Patrick is obviously a talented performer, there are good laughs in places, but a more demanding director would direct him get the tone right. Runs until April 7.

Doyle’s Upstairs on College Street, Dublin 2, for a long time the home of Ruby Sessions on Tuesdays, has become the latest venue to give an outlet to small theatre companies. It opens next week with Paint, produced by Fire Door Theatre. Two men struggle to cope with life’s challenges. One searches for answers, the other gives up sleep to paint, not on canvas, but on walls. It runs from this Wednesday to Saturday, at 8.00pm, entry €10.