The Body of Ciara Molloy (review)

Spoilers ahoy! 

 I am one of those who calls September "Halloween Eve." So too the folks at Force of Nature Productions whose The Body of Ciara Molloy offers the start of the creepy season with an immersive experience based on Irish folklore.

We are introduced by The Darkness (Gloria Galvan) into the theatre, built with bricks from an old Irish pub where events from 1866 are doomed to replay again and again and again.

So far, so good.  We almost immediately meet the denizens of the pub (which is also a funeral parlor, just for fun and plot points) including the proprietress Deirdre O'Byrne (Redetha Deason) and others such as her daughter Nóirín (EmLee VassiLos), plus patrons Deaglán (Phillip Wheeler) and Finbar (Michael Guthrie-Minty) and even Fiadh (Heather Vazquez).  Soon enough we start meeting others such as Officer Sean O'Hanley (Tom Jones), Deputy (Sebastian Muñoz) and--rather startlingly--a Banshee (Tricia Guthrie-Minty) as well as the Dullahan (Kyle Felts)!

Then there is Ciara Molloy (Cassandra Moselle) who as the title suggests is a very important person.  Now, this is a tale involving a series of weird events, ones very memorable not least because the supernatural rears its un-natural head(s).  But unlike a more mainstream performance, things do not all happen before all of us.  Rather it depends on where we the audience members go.  There are options, and we can go back and forth.  That it likewise depends very much on an atmosphere of a certain time, a specific culture, which the production goes to considerable lengths to create--haiku like--with minimal but important details.

It makes for a very cool night of spookiness, with more than a few touches of genuine poignancy (this is what impressed me most to be honest).  Makes a nice change from virtual trips to fear-drenched Transylvania or similar environs this season.  Methinks that is one reason "Fallen Saints" by FON continues to attract audience members year after year.  

Audience members are also invited to a “The Shady Yew Experience” to enjoy a drink, play shove ha’penny, get their fortune told, and much more, including some very nice stew!  

Just two shows nightly at 8:00 & 9:15 PM, followed by the interactive “Shady Yew Experience” at 10:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays until September 21, 2024 at the Brickhouse Theatre 10950 Peach Grove Street North Hollywood, CA 91601