Immune from the deficiencies?

DCU Drama - Rent | 4/5

UCD Drama - Rent | 3/5

I must preface this review by saying that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Rent before I went to see DCU’s production in The Helix on 24th March. Granted, I had never seen it on stage, but I had seen the 2005 film version and didn’t love it.

I went hoping that, at the very least, I’d like it more than the film. I was pleasantly surprised. DCU Drama’s production of Rent was slick and professional.

I was lucky enough to get one of the last tickets for Wednesday’s show, and I was told that Thursday had already sold out.

Rent is loosely based on the opera La Bohéme. The musical tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village New York.

Having seen director John Donnelly’s production of Sweeney Todd, I had high expectations. The vast majority of the credit for Rent has to go to the excellent cast, however. Both their singing and dancing were near flawless. Unfortunately the backing music almost drowned them out at times.

The play deals with a lot of heavy issues – Aids being the main one. It’s a complex production to handle but the cast and director did it competently, flitting from whimsical scenes to heavy ones effortlessly.

The members of the chorus, from the homeless to the life support group played their small roles memorably. The hilarious voicemail interludes never failed to raise a laugh from the audience.

The performances that stood out most for me were undoubtedly Fiona Carty and Stevi Russell as couple Maureen Johnson and Joanne Jefferson.

Their power vocals in the tough-to-sing Take Me or Leave Me were truly spectacular.

The highlight of the night had to be Over the Moon in which Carty charmed and delighted the audience with her wacky routine and pitch-perfect vocals.

The audience on the night responded overwhelmingly to the show, clapping and cheering enthusiastically following Angel’s Today 4 U, mooing along with Maureen in Over the Moon, and ending with a lengthy standing ovation.

The audience loved Damien Kavanagh as Angel. From his hilarious first number to the emotionally charged Contact, he completely took over the stage any time he appeared on it.

Niamh Maher was captivating as Mimi. However, her back-up dancers in Out Tonight let her down, completely out of sync with one another.

There were some lighting cues that felt oddly timed, and the amount of dry ice on stage was at times wholly unnecessary, but the set design itself was excellent. It was simple but effective, perfectly capturing the scene of a New York loft. Little touches like the makeshift metal Christmas tree and fake snow were simple but effective.

I was a little underwhelmed last year after seeing DCU Drama’s production of Fame, but they undeniably raised the bar this year in a big way and I look forward to seeing what they do next year.

UCD’s take on Rent

Just a week after seeing DCU’s production of Rent, I went out to UCD to see their take on the musical. The university previously staged Rent in November and it was ‘back by popular demand’ this time around.

The first thing to note about UCD’s production is that it was done on a dramatically smaller scale to DCU’s. The venue, UCD’s own Astra Hall, was a lot smaller and more intimate than The Theatre in The Helix.

The set design wasn’t a patch on DCU’s. A fairly simple black background with some spray-painted graffiti and metal scaffolding set the scene. That’s not to say it was bad; for a small production like this the set did its job.

The most notable performance of the night came from Emily Leonard as Maureen Johnson. The rest of the cast were good in their roles too, however the vocals at times were a bit off.

I don’t mean to take away from UCD’s production and am not criticising it just because I am a DCU student. The fact is, the DCU production was the jewel in Drama Soc’s crown this year, while UCD’s was a small-scale affair that was scarcely advertised outside its own campus.

The UCD students arguably had the more difficult job: performing on a small stage in a small theatre with a low budget. And I’m pleased to say that they did pull off a great performance despite my criticisms.