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Trad Union Hall, Adelaide Uni Sat 11 March 'Trad' would truly have to be one of the most remarkably surreal, yet heartbreakingly saddest comedies you're ever likely to see. We meet an incredibly old one legged Irish fellow (played by Frankie McCafferty) who is so extremely set in his traditional Irish upbringing and values that he has never ventured out of the rural district he was born in. Joined by his one armed, one-hundred year old son, Thomas (Peter Gowen), together the pair have been largely estranged from the rest of the community and are one day discussing the father's impending death. It's during this talk that the father expresses his disappointment towards his son for not marrying and providing a male offspring to continue the family name. However, Thomas surprises "Da" by telling him that soon after his twenty-ninth birthday he had sexual relations with a girl known only to him as Mary, and from that night there spawned a baby boy. Anxious to know how much further the family lineage has been extended, Da insists that they dodder into the village and with little knowledge other than the mother's Christian name and an approximate birth date, attempt to track down his seventy year old grandson. Accompanied by Celtic guitar and violin, it's the ridiculously exaggerated tales of family folklore and local legends told by Da, along with the painfully slow and shuffling gait by the two as they're aided by a demented old woman and the questionable Father Rice (both played by David Pearse) throughout their quest, that truly sets this aside from any other plays you'll see this Fringe.  |
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