REVIEW: Poisoned Polluted at the Old Red Lion

Kathryn O’Reilly’s second play tackles traumatic and painful subjects head on. Child abuse, drug addiction and growing up are all on the agenda of Poisoned Polluted. Against a backdrop of luscious green forestry, the two sisters flashback and forward retelling the trauma of their childhoods and reliving the games, the pleasures and the memories of their past. 

Kathryn O’Reilly plays Sister, the older and more weathered of the two. She tackles Sister’s addiction and psychosis with honesty and truth, utilising her wonderful physicality to truly embody the crippling anxiety and excruciating pain that Sister experiences throughout her life.

Her is played by Anna Doolan. The more grounded of the two characters, Her is constantly reaching out to help her sibling, often with little effect. Doolan plays the desperation and the helplessness of Her with precision and clarity. The two actresses work brilliantly together to push and pull the text and embody the story.

REVIEW: Plastic as The Old Red Lion

The Old Red Lion pub has been a place where I have seen some of the best fringe theatre; from plays to musicals the small studio space boasts a hearty CV of successful shows and its current production ‘Plastic’ is no different.

Set in some non specified estate in some non specified city, the lives of four young people are in front of us; half looking to the future whilst the other is stuck in the past. The crossover of their individual tales is like a plait in the continuum. A budding relationship between an older guy and a strained friendship between a lad who should have been popular yet held back by his strange friend are laid out for us.

Kev (Mark Weinman) used to be someone. Head of the football team, set up to move into the beautiful game professionally then let down at the last minute. Now clings on to his past by dating a secondary school girl, Lisa (Madison Clare), the popular girl who he would have been going out with if he was in fact at school. Ben (Thomas Coombes) is frankly weird, bullied to the point where he is at the point of breaking and there is a feeling of unsteadiness in him. His best, Jack (Louis Greatorex) friend has started to feel the pressure of their friendship and being tarnished with the same brush as Ben. Conflict arises, a vicious turn happens and the aftermath is disastrous (not wanting to give too much away).