Bewley's Theatre

There’s a giant neon sign flashing a while into Eleanor Tiernan’s stand-up performance, and that’s when she stops doing stand up, sits down and talks briefly about depression in an odd segue. Why, oh why isn’t this the starting point, and not something shoehorned into an otherwise conventional performance to make it a bit more Fringey?

Tiernan has some decent gags, mostly based on her bleak reflections of Athlone in the 1980s and the existential crisis that arises out of being from the Roscommon side of Athlone that outsiders aren’t sure exists. But she also has some wandering punchlines delivered without conviction. Visual props of graphs and maps are underdeveloped and skirt around jokes rather than nailing them down, and, frustratingly, the potential constantly fizzes beneath the surface but seldomly pops up.

Most of all, to truly create a show that can step beyond the comfy format of stand up – which Tiernan is clearly capable of – she needs a decent director.

Ends Saturday

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