It’s the time of year when theatre-makers and creatives from all over the city are getting sets, costumes and scripts together and heading to Dublin’s oldest theatre, Smock Alley, for the Scene and Heard Festival. This is certainly what one of Trinity’s homegrown theatre companies, Shabadoo, is getting up to. Hot off its latest success, Eirwaves, which was shown at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Shabadoo is bringing a brand-new piece of theatre to Scene and Heard this year. The piece, entitled Train of Fools, follows three commuters on a train home from work who encounter an eerie and comic storyteller. This mystery narrator predicts dark futures for each commuter, which are portrayed in vignettes on stage, with a sense of “manic, comic farce”, according to Writer and Director Ken Donnelly, speaking to The University Times.
The show is a new direction for Shabadoo as the company’s previous work has utilised radio as a tool and a means of creating a production that is accessible across more than one level. This time, as Donnelly explains, they are “trying to focus on making Train of Fools as much of a spectacle as possible, with lots of movement and visual cues”.
The Scene and Heard Festival is the perfect setting to stage new creatives like the team of Shabadoo. It provides the opportunity to make exciting and innovative pieces, giving the performers an audience that may not have otherwise had the chance to view such interesting work. As Donnelly put it: “Scene and Heard gives us the opportunity to take risks and try new things. We can’t be afraid to make mistakes.”
Shabadoo is just one of the many theatre collectives that are Trinity-grown, the work of which will be on display during Scene and Heard this year.
Train of Fools will take place in the Smock Alley Main Space on February 23rd to 24th, beginning at 8pm.
