A darkly comic tale of three murderers and what they found on the night they broke out of jail, Coconut Raft juxtaposes a stark gritty jailbreak with a musical about that jailbreak. Written and performed by Bryan Quinn, Bobby McGlynn and Sean Carpio, it uses some dark monologues, simple theatre and music and dance to explore the nightmarish break out of three desperate criminals and the secrets they uncover that night.
It’s engaging, funny, heart-rendering and a surprising amount of fun. From the opening musical number to Sean Carpio’s near tear-inducing monologue where he realises that his victims family are, most likely, praying for him to die, this play/musical is brilliant. Sadly, it’s still a work in progress. It’s unfinished and needs to be tightened up and extended, but I have no doubt that this show will break out of the Project Arts Centre and become something much bigger.
We begin with a hokey 1930′s US cabaret act. The music is fun and catchy and sets the tone as lighthearted and jaunty. Suddenly, we are transported to a tense dark prison, where our three anti-heroes begin their jailbreak. Throughout the play, we jump between the two worlds and as the trio’s musical act gets funnier and more entertaining, the jailbreak descends further into despair and ruin.
A briny draft will push me out to sea
And If I fall asleep the stars will wake me
If I lose my way the moon will take me
To the place where I’ll laugh last
On my coconut raft
I left with a huge grin from ear to ear, but a desperation to see more. Coconut Raft runs until April 3rd in the Project Cube, with tickets from €12. It may be too short, it may feel unfinished, but I promised you that you’ll leave feeling you’ve seen something great and something that will grow to be a very successful show.
Bryan Quinn, Bobby McGlynn and Sean Carpio
I looked at the poster for this outside the Project Arts Centre. I did not get out to see a play while in Dublin this time.
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