Dublin by Lamplight, Theatre Royal Brighton, until Sat, May 12

6:00am Tuesday 8th May 2007

Joyce's Ulysses took place over one day in Dublin in 1904.

So too does this award-winning production by Irish theatre company The Corn Exchange, which centres around the establishment of the Irish National Theatre Of Ireland.

Under the American director Annie Ryan, The Corn Exchange specialise in what they call "a long distant and slightly disturbed American cousin" of commedia dell'arte.

The actors wear masks (or rather, extremely heavy make-up) to portray stock characters and emotions in a style that is at once extreme and truthful, but the context is modern. Here fading stars, rebels, whores and romantics people a Dublin on the brink of anarchy, where artistic aspirations rub shoulders with shady politics.

"I do like to bring in Irish work if I can," says Festival Producer and theatre programmer Jane McMorrow, who is second-generation Irish and has also included Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer.

"I've been speaking to The Corn Exchange about doing something for a while. Dublin By Lamplight is very funny but with a dark edge. It's a little bit grubby and seedy and mouthy, and it'll look great in the Theatre Royal because it's a piece of work for that era of theatre. I love the Theatre Royal but it does have that slightly down-at-heel feel."

The six person cast plays more than 30 characters, and includes Mark O'Halloran, who starred in and co-wrote Lenny Abrahamson's black comedy about two heroin addicts in Dublin.

• For review, see Thursday's The Argus or visit www.theargus.co.uk/festival
• 7.30pm, Sat mat 2.30pm, £10-£20, 01273 709709

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