The Bull is based on the great Irish epic An Táin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle-Raid of Cooley), which recounts a long, bloody war fought over a celebrated bull. Fabulous Beast transposes this gem of Irish sagas to the savage underbelly of contemporary society. A cast of runts, imbeciles, adulterers, egomaniacs, masochistic deviants and impotent catamites squabble and conspire in the bogs and towns of an Irish-tinged world with corruption and deception at its heart.
Co-produced by Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival and BITE: 06 Barbican, London. Original production first performed at the O’Reilly Theatre 2005 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. Also performed at Barbican BITE:07; and at Spielzeit’europa, Berliner Festspiele, Nov 2009.
Director.
Michael Keegan-Dolan
Dramaturg.
Thomas Conway
Composer.
Philip Feeney
Designer.
Merle Hensel
Lighting Design.
Adam Silverman
Sound Design.
Gareth Fry
Cast.
Michael M. Dolan, Colin Dunne, Olwen Fouere, Milos Galko, Robbie Harris, Emmanuel Obeya, Neil Paris, Gianluca Pezzino, Rachel Poirier, Angelo Smimmo, Vladislav Benito Soltys and Daphne Strothmann.
The petty materialism of modern Ireland may bear scant resemblance to the heroism of Cúchulainn's time, but Michael Keegan-Dolan has sewn the two together seamlessly… every shameful aspect of Irish life is wrung out… That [he] picks a much-loved Irish legend to illustrate Ireland’s downfall shows his delight in irreverence… barrels along at a thundering pace, a maelstrom of black humour, perversity, percussion and dance. Historically entertaining.
Markham Nolan, Sunday Business Post ★★★★★
Very funny… brilliant… a hell of a way to finish off an evening.
Michael Moffatt, Ireland on Sunday ★★★
A mesmerising show of such relentless energy, outrageous black humour and rough beauty that you cannot peel your eyes from the stage
Siobhán Murphy, Metro ★★★★★
