A Bolt From D’Blue theatre review: Seeking the universal in the personal story

Viking Theatre, Clontarf until February 18

Sharp stage presence: David Gilna. Photo by Louis Maxwell

Katy Hayes

February 01 2023 05:01 PM

Writer/performer David Gilna has built this personal-essay style show around an extraordinary experience. At the age of 18, whilst staying in Boston on a JI visa, he was hit by lightning, and over the next few days he flat-lined three times as he was being treated in Boston Medical Centre. It was initially uncertain whether he would ever walk or function properly again.

Recounting this heart-stopping event, he also describes growing up in Swords, Co Dublin, and how he became seduced by the stage via participation in a Riverdance spoof. He meticulously and sensitively describes the small triumphs as well as the acute disappointments of a career in the arts, including having one of his plays rubbished and torn up by an (unnamed) artistic director. Prior to his unlucky encounter with a lightning bolt, he had just got a big break with an offer to go to Hollywood. He very clearly expresses and embodies the commitment artists generally feel to their profession.

A simple setting by Marie Tierney places objects and photographs around a living-room style space. Characters in the story are pointed out in family pictures. Gilna has a sharp stage presence and is well able to create good cameos. He cites Malachy McCourt as an influence and the show has a certain flavour of the McCourt style of storytelling: a keen eye for dramatic event and a seeking of the universal in the personal.

There is much shocking incident, including a shooting at a pool-party in the US, a 20-year-old friend being tragically knocked down by a drunken taxi driver, and the death of a beloved family member from cancer. Gilna prods all these events for meaning and peppers his show with plenty of sound advice; this is a thoroughly examined life.

Engaging and entertaining throughout, it is a disappointment that the material remains trapped within a very contained emotional register. Though still young, Gilna has some acute experiences chalked up. But he has to dig a little deeper to convert this interesting material into transformative art.