Lively leap into the surreal
The Water Orchard is a lively, inventive leap into the world of surreal comedy, that has echoes of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard, Agatha Christie, The Goons, and any offbeat comedy you’ve ever seen.
In a big house, father is hiding, volatile sister Noelle is trying to revamp the place to cater for a new society smart set, a hook-handed son looks like a refugee from The Addams Family, and mother is mysteriously missing. Enter an actor disguised as a detective, and a care worker who’s not really a care worker.
The glory of the house is its water orchard, especially the ‘78 vintage, inexplicably reduced to just one bottle.
The unseen missing mother is represented by a hat and sheet operating as a ventriloquist’s dummy. Dialogue regularly flashes on the back screen, characters fight, plan, and deliver occasional lengthy monologues, and the finale is a surprise resolution of the missing water mystery.
It’s great fun, and Peter Corboy, Rachel Gleeson, John Doran and Breffni Holohan keep it snappy, with considerable input from Eleanor Methven’s voice. It could do with some sharper editing, but there’s a lot to enjoy. Runs at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre until July 29.