Our Brothers in Cloth is not just a play about the shadow that has been cast over the Catholic Church, says Jeremy Welch.
★★★★
Set in religiously conservative rural Ireland a brother tries to make sense of the suicide of his sibling, his death a second one in the community. There is one other factor that unites them in their death, both of them served as altar boys to the local parish priest.
This is not just a play about the shadow that has been cast over the Catholic Church and its now well recorded historical sexual abuse by priests. Within the community sides are taken and each side is immovable in its righteous beliefs.
Our Brothers in Cloth combines this with a study of the repercussions to the survivors, the effect on and within families, spilling over into the wider community and ultimately the undermining of the church as the scandal seeps into the foundations of the church creating fissures of doubt and the conflict between reality and belief.
The script is tight and well written by Ronan Colfer and weaves each characters’ personal journey into a tapestry of just how destructive and widespread the repercussions are from these vile acts . Poke The Bear Production should be very proud of this production.
Do not be put off by the theme of this production, the subject matter is handled sensitively, the narrative arc skillfully executed and the acting is of a very high standard. It’s a really good play.
Assembly George Square Studios, Studio Five, 1-25 Aug 2025.
Eli Matthewson’s hour-long set is a tightly woven, quick-witted confessional, says Frankie Reason.
★★★★
‘Last year, my boyfriend tried to kill me in my sleep. We are still going strong. This is a story about theft, anxiety and unforgettable biscuits.’ Eli Matthewson’s own description of his show at the Fringe this year sums up this hilarious confessional very well.
Matthewson addresses a strict Christian upbringing, his inadvertent Tory sympathies, and his near death experience (at the hands of his boyfriend), all in a pleasingly pitchy kiwi drawl.
The New Zealand comic is a worthwhile watch. Funny, self-deprecating, and laughingly sincere, he has a knack for recalling earlier jokes and for anticipating dead air in such a way that a single interjection brings the crowd immediately back to life.
Matthewson did well to draw out an initially reticent audience and he built a good repartee with a couple of audience members who contributed eagerly to his crowd work.
I found my attention drifting somewhere in the middle (around the time he began musing on current affairs) but was promptly reanimated by an organic pivot to polyamory.
This comedy is sophisticated, conversational, and good-natured, though not without a touch of caustic wit. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable hour spent at the Underbelly’s Wee Coo – one I would be happy to repeat.
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