For Dolores
★★★★☆ Vibrant energy
Traverse (Venue 15): Thurs 6 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
For Dolores at the Traverse is a gloriously chaotic and at times horrifying slice of life, performed with suitable pizzazz.
Eva O’Connor’s new play from Fishamble is presented in association with Lime Tree Theatre, Belltable, Galway International Arts Festival and the Traverse.
Catriona Faint and Lara McDonell in Fishamble’s For Delores by Eva O’Connor. Pic: Pat Redmond
Réaltín (Lara McDonell) and Mo (Catriona Faint) are living together either ‘as friends’ or as ‘chosen family’, whichever you prefer. Or as Mo puts it, as ‘an almighty clusterfuck’. They have history, you see, dating back to a meeting between Glaswegian Mo and Irish Réaltín in a malfunctioning lift during Freshers’ Week at Edinburgh University. Now they have Réaltín’s child (the Dolores of the title) to contend with, and how they all got there is told in a non-linear and beautifully lively fashion.
There’s a spark and a sparkle to the dialogue, and the messy, unequal, wonderfully believable relationship between the characters is beautifully portrayed by the performers. McDonell gives Réaltín a lop-sided composure and real humour, while the apparently harder-edged and more desperate Mo is played by Faint with real presence and is no less funny.
skilfully delineated
The evocations of wilful excess, unthinking betrayals and willing co-dependence are given a notable chemistry by the two of them and by director Jim Culleton. Framed as a cross between a therapy session and a knowingly theatrical exploration of a shared history, the framework of secrets and unspoken ‘invisible lines’ is skilfully delineated.
Many of the more darkly dramatic episodes in the story have all the more impact by being explored comparatively sketchily, with more weight given to the remembered episodes of hedonism and togetherness (notably a tremendous scene of dancing in a club choreographed by Nóra Ní Anluain Fay).
Catriona Faint and Lara McDonell in Fishamble’s For Delores by Eva O’Connor. Pic: Pat Redmond
The set design of Alyson Cummins, literally built on the detritus of Réaltín and Mo’s lives, is wonderfully witty, with the lighting of Suzie Cummins and the sound design of Denis Clohessy adding considerably to the play’s energy.
Perhaps there is something a little too pat about the set-up, with the characters (the fizzy, whimsically Irish Réaltín and the sweary, hard-drinking Scot Mo) being just a little too recognisably stereotypical. The play’s ending, meanwhile, is in one way satisfyingly of a piece with what has gone before but in other ways doesn’t quite cohere.
However, there’s no denying the energy, spirit and sheer bravado of a production which displays all of the chutzpah, teetering volubility and vulnerability of its protagonists.
Running time: One hour and 25 minutes (no interval).
Traverse (Traverse 2), 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED (Venue 15).
Thursday 6 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Mon – Sun: See website for details.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Traverse website: www.traverse.co.uk/
Facebook: @TraverseTheatre
Instagram: @traversetheatre
Linktree: @traversetheatre.
ENDS
