AMONG the clouds hanging over the humble reviewer's head as she works out what to write, boredom and incomprehensibility occasionally loom.
Then there is conflict of interest. Should you declare if you know an actor or producer as a mate or worse, are related?
I remember my late sister, Vlasta, who moved from a promising acting career via Central into education and the highest am dram after meeting the wrong man, appearing in a play I had to review.
Our mother said to me, "Darling, you'll write how brilliant she is." It was The Importance of Being Earnest and Vee was an extremely un-Margaret Rutherford Miss Prism.
I replied, with the arrogance of the recently graduated, "That depends on how good she is."
Of course, she was very good and we honoured her in Kent a week ago with a plaque at the theatre she performed in.
Now my brother-in-law, Ruairi Conaghan, the Player King in Benedict Cumberbatch's great 2016 Hamlet and Reverend Hale in The Crucible at The Lyric, is presenting a fascinating, intensely personal one-man show.
Lies Where It Falls details the personal difficulties he experienced after taking on the role of Brighton bomber Patrick Magee in Josie Melia and Julie Everton's play The Bombing of the Grand Hotel.
It didn't help that Ruairi's uncle, Judge Rory Conaghan, was killed in 1974 in a harrowing murder during the Troubles. When Conaghan acted in Hamlet, the theme of loss in Shakespeare's tragedy chimed, and Ruairi experienced stage anxiety for the first time.
His one-man show plays at The Accidental Theatre (Sept 30-Oct 2), Cushendall (Oct 6) the Heaney Home Place (Oct 8).
Paddy O'Kane, one of my favourite actors and a sparring partner of Ruairi's in Gary Mitchell's dramas, is directing for Fresh and Well productions. And yes, if allowed, I shall review it.
WHEN is music meant to be listened to in reverent silence, when sung along? At the end of August I enjoyed the quite brilliant Connections concert in St Anne's Cathedral, part of this year's Mela.
The combination of uber-Irish folk and world music was delicious. Also at times Eurovisionary. Our row wasn't quiet as it would have been listening to a Bach Prelude and Fugue, and a lady came up to tick us off afterwards. Fair enough, but can you stay silent when they're playing Guantanamera?
NEW comedy Lockdown DLA is coming to The MAC from Soda Bread Theatre (September 14-18). Written by Stephen G. Large who penned Soft Border Control, it's a reinvented Norn Irish Citizen Smith and has already located my funny bone.
With Matthew McElhinney as Davy 'the Venezuelan' Taylor and Matt Forsythe as sidekick John 'the Horse' McCracken, we can for an hour or two forget our woes. Can't wait.
