emsemsems's review
5.0
Absolutely fucking brilliant. I didn't know which 'myth' the reviews/reviewers were referring to, and I'm thankful for that because I only picked up on it towards the end of the play (and it was such a glorious surprise). Darkness with a lovely touch of comedy - my favourite. Also, I did read this in my awful Irish accent, trying to sound like Saoirse Ronan and Hozier but nothing like any of them at all. Made me miss Ireland. Oh dear Ireland. Had only great moments there. Got a proper job offer (bartender) on my first night there after downing a sweet pint - you can say as the hopeless romantics call it - a bloody love at first sight. Will return some day. Also, I'm definitely going to read more of Carr's work. You know when you've experienced something amazing - and then it sticks to you like a sticky chewing gum in your mind (and you know it's going to take a good amount of time before it goes away)? This one is surely one of those things.
woolyj's review
5.0
A beautiful play, one of my absolute favourites. Set in the bog in Ireland, Hester Swane is a traveller. Not accepted by her community but not fully rejected either, wants to be with the man she loves and has a child with. Beautiful writing and a play I would love to see in person.
sarah_toast's review
2.0
Read it for my Irish Literature class. It was a weird story and a sad ending.
aesopsdaddy's review
4.0
Loosely based on Euripides’ Medea and set beside the bleak boglands of rural Ireland, this play tells the tragedy of Hester Swane — a gypsy woman who is tortured by the spectre of a mother who abandoned her. On the day her longtime lover and father of her daughter is set to marry another woman; with this union threatening Swane’s hold on her home and child, she kindles the fires of revenge which bring her bloody, buried past to the surface of the titular bog. Anyone who knows Medea, knows this won’t end well, but Carr’s reincarnation offers deviant surprises, plenty of pathos and a few chuckles to boot. I hope this is revived on the stage again; the writing is incantatory and brims with occult elements, from witchcraft to catwomen, to omens and ghosts, and I love that shit.
avlain's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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