REVIEW: Nuclear Family, New Wolsey Theatre, Pulse Festival ✭✭✭

Nuclear Family

Pulse Festival, New Wolsey Theatre.

10 June 2017

3 Stars

Presented as an inquiry into the meltdown of Ashtown Nuclear Plant, this interactive piece by Sunday’s Child and Fever Dream Theatre asks the audience to step in and make decisions that will affect the outcome of the drama. Racing against the clock, and with strictly timed discussion points, the majority choices are then acted out.

It takes a while to get going, the opening scene establishing recent history and problems with the plant, and the relationship between siblings Joe and Ellen, who become trapped when disaffected former workers break in and enter the control room. Anne O’Riordan and Aidan O’Callaghan work well as the siblings, creating a good sense of tension as the play progresses. The scenario would have benefited from being a little more realistic; some of the circumstances presented appeared highly unlikely. More character development would have also allowed us to invest more deeply in the unfolding drama.

That said, the stakes were raised in increasing levels of danger, and the audience participation became very lively, even though the outcomes were pretty much set from the start.

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