Pan Pan Theatre’s ‘The Importance of Nothing’
The Importance of Nothing
“Pain unlike pleasure wears no mask.” Oscar Wilde
As part of a national tour The Importance of Nothing comes to Dunamaise, Portlaoise on 17th April 2018.
The Importance of Nothing is comedy about a drama therapy class which focuses on the work of Oscar Wilde in an imaginary prison. Directed by Gavin Quinn it has an ensemble cast of Andrew Bennett, Sonya Kelly, Mark O’Halloran, Anna Shiels McNamee and Dylan Tighe.
A Pan Pan Theatre Production. For more info click on www.panpantheatre.com
Oscar Wilde’s material is used by drama therapist Lady Lancing to test the prisoners’ patience and imaginations. They, the prisoners, are challenged to refashion or completely overhaul Oscar Wilde’s material. The Irish Times says ‘Director Gavin Quinn and the ensemble employ a rigorous and wide-ranging understanding of their subject in order to fracture him in so many disarming ways’.
The play combines great literary work with humour, the Irish Independent says ‘All performances are top notch’.
Director: Gavin Quinn Set Design: Aedín Cosgrove
Lighting Design: Zia Holly Music: Si Schroeder
Costumes: Catherine Fay
Cast: Cast: Andrew Bennett, Sonya Kelly, Mark O’Halloran, Anna Shiels McNamee and Dylan Tighe
Media Contact: Kate at Bowe Communications.ie 01 652 0143
The Importance of Nothing – Pan Pan Theatre – Promo from Ros Kavanagh on Vimeo.
What the critics say:
“Adding Wilde to the list of canonical authors that Pan Pan have absorbed and radically repurposed, director Gavin Quinn and the ensemble employ a rigorous and wide-ranging understanding of their subject in order to fracture him in so many disarming ways.”
The Irish Times
“There are several brilliant sequences. Mark O’Halloran and Andrew Bennett act out the melodramatic climax of A Woman of No Importance in hilarious style. Passages about growing up gay in Ennis and Limerick, and poetry readings on a bus to Bundoran, are very funny. All the performances are top-notch.” The Irish Independent
“So brilliant is the humour you could almost miss the subtle yet powerful interrogations taking place. Like Wilde’s work, there are secrets hidden beneath the laughter and a burning intelligence at play.” The Arts Review
“Pan Pan, who have already radically adapted Shakespeare, Ibsen and Chekhov, admirably offer something new on Wilde’s legacy. This cunning production weaves the writer’s biography and work through a playful conceit: a drama therapy class for prison inmates.”
Exeunt Magazine
“It’s an ambitious approach but the play’s real pleasures lie in the specificity of its brilliantly drawn and performed characters and the bawdy hilarity of their interactions.” No More Workhouse