The Pearl

Avarice and affliction make for a potent cocktail of despair in Dumbshow’s production of The Pearl, an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1947 novella. In a departure from the Mexican influence of the original, this offering gives the tale an Irish folk spin – a move which seems to dissipate much of the text's cultural identity.

Protagonist Kino sees his life plunged into anguish after a pearl-diving trip yields an extraordinary sea gem. In typical Steinbeck style, his dreams are soon rendered futile as the mammoth pearl that once held so much promise soon makes existence miserable: he attacks those who get too close, and refuses to get rid of the discovery that has brought nothing but pain and sadness into his home. The bonds between Kino and his family break, irreparably, as the story reaches its tragic climax.

The aspects of physical theatre interspersed into the main tale are easily the company’s most accomplished moments: it is this sense of originality, and their neatly effective set, that gives the adaptation more weight. But overblown accents and attempts to generate silly laughs detract from something that could be a more meaningful piece of theatre - it smacks of student fare in its earnestness. The focus on recreating so many of the scenes, with actors doubling up as quarry dwellers, and pearl inspectors, and nuns, reduces the audience's time spent with the central characters—the ones who should be tugging at our heartstrings—but sadly are not given the time to do so.