On Thursday 6 June 2024, the Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg put on a production of Lippy at the Grand Théâtre (moved from the Théâtre du Capucins where it was originally scheduled to be performed) in the 240-seat second space.
Performed by Dead Centre from Dublin, Ireland, the 80-minute play was their breakthrough work and was first performed in September 2013; since then, it has been performed around the world in locations such as Edinburgh (Scotland), New York (USA), Gothenburg (Sweden), Prague (the Czech Republic), Brisbane (Australia) and London (England).
Featuring seven actors, it uses video projections and a sometimes incompetent, unprofessional technician.
The play starts off after a drama production, the details of which we know nothing, where a moderator hosts a Q&A session with one of the cast. The conversation includes amusing dialogue and turns to address lip reading and how people either do not want to be heard or those who use lip reading to interpret what has been said.
The focus then turns to 2010 and a story in Leixlip, a town on the outskirts of Dublin, where four women - an aunt and three sisters - made an extraordinary decision. They have boarded themselves into their home and entered into a suicide pact that lasted 40 days during which they starve themselves. "We weren't here. We don't know what they said. This is not their story". But the actor has revealed that he had worked with the Garda in looking into the tragedy, using his lip reading skills on CCTV recordings captured from around the time of the tragedy.
This part nightmare features the post-show interviewed actor parachuted in to the Leixlip scenario where he imagines what happened from the evidence recovered from the scene, including letters.
Asking whether it is acceptable to put words in people's mouths, the production concludes with a monologue using a close-up projection of an actor's lips so one can easily follow what is being said by following the movement of the lips.
From an amusing opening act setting the scene, to a taut, depressing second act and an artistic third act, this production provides audiences with a rollercoaster of emotions. It has brought the audience on a journey of possibilities into what could have happened during those fateful 40 days.
