The Absolute State
The Absolute State is an intriguing piece of verbatim theatre taking on the complex topic of alcohol in Ireland.
Created by Dublin playwright Luke Shanahan, The Absolute State is set to virtually premier at the Galway Fringe Festival on Thursday the 24th of September.
Verbatim theatre is a genre of theatre that uses the words of real people as its dialogue instead of words from the imagination of the playwright. It developed as a response to the power of the film camera to create documentaries, which provide a direct visual insight into real world events and real people’s lives. Verbatim theatre’s use of real people’s actual words has parallels with documentary films, but focuses on drawing out the drama in real-life as a means to reveal underlying patterns in society. It combines journalism with the art of playwriting, allowing theatre to speak for entire communities rather than just the ideas of one playwright. Luke Shanahan’s use of this genre for his latest play marks a novel approach to artistic social commentary, the results of which will be, no doubt, engaging and insightful.
Due to the constraints of COVID-19, only one theatre showing of The Absolute State has occurred so far, at Scene and Heard in Smock Alley Theatre just before the first set of restrictions kicked in. Fortunately, Galway Fringe Festival reached out to Luke and his team a while ago to see if they could somehow recast the The Absolute State as a film, to be premiered at the online festival. The team duly agreed, and recorded the shots across Dublin over the past few weeks. The wide-angle stationary shots are intended to create a sense that each scene is staged, like the set in a theatre. It’s ironic that verbatim theatre is intended as a response to documentary filmmaking, but in the world of COVID-19, this attempt at verbatim theatre has been forced into a new and unique type of filmmaking.
Luke Shanahan has directed several other plays before taking on this type of theatre. His first short play was Noir 2000, facilitated by the Fighting Words playwriting programme that set up by Roddy Doyle and Sean Love. He directed his own work for the first time with There’s Only Alice, performed in the UCD Dramsoc Theatre in 2018. Last year, Luke also carried out a stage adaptation of Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic The Room (recently celebrated by James Franco in The Disaster Artist), co-directed with Maya McNair.
The Absolute State revolves around the theme of alcohol, and how it can both make and break relationships in Irish society. Luke carried out a series of interviews last summer following a call for participants on social media. His questions were informed by scientific research on alcohol and its effects. He told us he wasn’t looking for any particular answers, but more to allow the participants to speak honestly about their experiences with the strange but ubiquitous substance that is alcohol. Some of the questions included,
“Do you normally drink with other people or by yourself?”
“Have you ever been shamed/slagged by your peers for drinking a particular type of drink?”
“What’s the best night-out you ever had?”
“What’s the worst night-out you’ve ever had?”
“In your opinion, is it possible to enjoy yourself on a night-out in Dublin without drinking?”
The responses from his interviewees were then edited into The Absolute State’s script to create a collage of dialogue, delivered by four cast members. The themes that emerged as Luke studied the answers provided an insight into young people in Ireland and their relationship with alcohol; how alcohol can shape our connections with other people, how we can try out new identities when alcohol dissolves our inhibitions, but also how we can get lost in these alcohol dependent identities if we are careless. No doubt much of what Luke has uncovered in The Absolute State will resonate with many viewers, but also, we expect it will reveal something fresh about the rising generation’s relationship with a drug that is absolutely Irish, for good and for bad.
Catch The Absolute State’s premier at the Galway Fringe Festival on Thursday the 24th of September at 5:30pm - 6:30pm, with a second screening at 8pm - 9pm.
The team behind The Absolute State and their roles:
Luke Shanahan - Playwright/Director
Maya McNair - Producer
Darragh Lawlor - Cast
Georgia Clarkson Kelly - Cast
Oisín O'Donoghue - Cast
Emma Moloney - Cast
Gemma Bovenizer - Cinematographer/DOP/Film Editor
Ingmar Kviele - Composer
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