The Gap Year by Claire McMahon at the Lyric Theatre on the 7th September, 2022
THE GAP YEAR by Claire McMahon at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast Directed by Benjamin Gould Set director – Stuart Marshall Lighting Designer – James C McFetridge Sound Designer – Garth McConaghie The Gap Year is a crowd-pleasing romp conceived by Claire McMahon and presented by the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. It begins, somewhat dis-ingeniously, at the beginning with a wake, and goes off like an arrow shot in a straight line ahead or a lone crow flying across a horizon. Three women go off on a year out facing crises of ageing such as bereavement, Alzheimers, and separation. Unlike Shirley Valentine, they don’t decide to travel to sun drenched beaches, warm seas and pina coladas but to a danker, wetter place which is all too familiar, namely their own country, the counties of Ireland, setting foot in every Irish county on the way. The set design is efficient and effective, a landscape abstract serves as a backdrop, a hillside that could be anywhere in Ireland (since it all