Confirmation continues at the Pleasance Dome – JackDome, Edinburgh until 26 August 2019.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Fond memories of DOUZE, a pastiche on Eurovision from a couple of years ago and Xnthony’s return is a direct contrast in style and content. The amazing voice is still there and it’s still thrilling.
His opening number is a subversion of all the ‘misty memory’ ballads of Olde Ireland – emerging from a range of cow and sheep noises, this is the Ireland of rebellion and of a people demanding to be heard.
This autobiographical piece tells of Anthony at 12, feeling his own ‘magic’ was vanishing and hoping that his Confirmation when ‘the spirit comes over you’ will give his inner magic the boost it needs. The 12-year-old Anthony is contrasted with the 26-year-old Xnthony: the age he was when Ireland had a referendum to allow equality in marriage. All Ireland said ‘Yes’ apart from Roscommon, Xnthony’s hometown.
The narrative plays around with the timeline as it relates to Anthony becoming Xnthony, his move to London where he finds a place where he can flourish. There is, however, a pull to Roscommon in a love/hate relationship many people can relate to their own escape from their hometown story. From his London viewpoint he’s thrilled to see ‘his story’ being openly debated in Ireland, then there is the bitterness of seeing Roscommon’s vote against.
There’s a sequence where the young Anthony’s mother asks him if he is gay: the a cappella technique is perfectly suited for the moment and his response: “I don’t know. I never thought about it” is both sad and touching. To this day, he doesn’t know how his parents voted.
A gentler, more intimate context works very well for the earlier scenes in the story. If this was carried through in terms of lighting and sound to convey the ‘small town’ feeling that opens up into the Xnthony of London in a fully different performance register, it would help with the trajectory to a great extent, making the show more coherent theatrically.
His voice is crystal clear and an absolute joy to listen to. I am watching with interest to see where Xnthony takes us next.
Fiona Orr
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