18 January 2012 (Theatre Review)

Star rating: 2/5

Title: Billy the Boat loves Angelina
Venue: The New Theatre
Writer: Isobel Mahon
Director: Caroline Fitzgerald
Cast: Rachel Mae Brady, Kevin Shackleton, Gina Costigan

Sandra sits brooding in a dilapidated apartment waiting for Shay to come home from the pub with the promised twenty Rothman, tinnies and Chinese takeaway. Shay is a drinker, drug addict and a recreational wife beater. So far, so Pride of Parnell Street. However, where The Pride of Parnell Street endears you with warm, richly drawn characters who embark on a heart-wrenching alternative love story, Billy the boat loves Angelina lacks the same powerful narrative to see the intentions through.

The play is unevenly distributed between two sections, the first The Rules, in which Sandra struggles between defending her man and advising the audience on the few simple guidelines necessary for keeping yourself out of trouble in an incendiary relationship. Gina Costigan takes on the role of Sandra confidently, and manages to make a fairly uneventful monologue somewhat engaging. Costigan embodies Sandra's delicate balance of desperation and hope as she fights against the DTs that threaten to overwhelm her while she waits for Shay to return.

In the second part of the play, Billy the Boat loves Angelina, we meet a decidedly less strung out Sandra 18 months previously. Having just discovered she's pregnant, Sandra is a great deal more content then when we initially encountered her. In the family kitchen with her brother Tim, played by Kevin Shackleton, her bliss is only mildly tempered by her concern for her younger sister Susan. Rachel Mae Brady assumes the role of Susan and skillfully demonstrates her swift transition from sober to wasted, from family member to desperate junkie. It is up to Tim and Sandra to rescue their sister from the dingy depths she has plummeted to and do so they do (with various asides during which Tim cruises the local pigeon club for men). Isobel Mahon's structure is interesting, in that we see the harrowing effect that Susan's addiction has on her sister Sandra in the first part, before the story of Susan's decline itself in the second. It is unfortunate, however, that there is little substance to either of these parts beyond what the cast bring individually.

The story isn't unbelievable, the characters are fairly realistic, and the actors do the best with the hand they are dealt. And yet there is something lacking in the storyline, the dialogue, and the direction of the piece that distances the audience member from truly connecting. Billy the Boat loves Angelina meanders on an uncertain course and ultimately, just like the protagonists after a fresh hit, fails to stand up.

Review by: Lauren O'Toole

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