A bonfire

Colin Murphy on Festen and The Bonefire, both playing as part of Dublin Theatre Festival

Festen is a play about child sexual abuse and it's very entertaining. There were hearty laughs from the Gate audience on opening night and a standing ovation at the end. This for a play which documents (though it doesn't show) child rape and suicide.

The action takes place largely around a dinner table at the 60th birthday party of the pater familias (Owen Roe) in the family-owned hotel in Denmark. ("Festen" is Danish for "celebration" and the play is adapted by British playwright David Eldridge from the 1998 Danish film of the same name.)

There are multiple speeches, discreet serving staff, an eclectic mix of family eccentrics and uneasy in-laws, a child crawling under the table and forays into the bedrooms of the hotel.

Hamlet was haunted by his father's ghost; Christian (Ronan Leahy) is haunted by his father's abuse. Both procrastinate, while around them Denmark rots.

Both have initial bursts of action, attempting to prove their nemesis's guilt by confronting him with his crimes in public. Both suffer lethargy and are supported by an old friend. Both seek their redemption in a final showdown.

And as Hamlet plays out on both personal and political terrain, so too in Festen is the act of abuse which lies at the core of the narrative symptomatic of the corruption of bourgeois Danish society.

The play's success lies in the easy way director Selina Cartmell has with her actors and with the complex dynamics of the set. The stage (and auditorium) is a constant buzz of movement as the party guests move through the hotel, cleverly choreographed by Cartmell (beautifully, she creates one scene where three couples are having parallel conversations in neighbouring bedrooms, while using the same bedroom on stage). Yet as the night wears on, there is a frantic edge to the cast's attempts to keep up with the pace of the plot and the physical movements of the set, undermining moments that cry out for stillness and quiet.

Festen is not a great play: it gives its large cast little time to establish themselves as anything more than predictable character types and lacks a true emotional punch. But Selina Cartmell's production is attractive and witty, and her cast likewise.

The Bonefire takes us to another dysfunctional family, this time in Loyalist Belfast, where they are preparing for the annual "boney" (bonfire) of the Twelfth. It is a black comedy about sectarian violence, a low-key family drama, a political spy thriller and a door-slamming farce: but it never manages to be any one of these with conviction.

Writer Rosemary Jenkins writes many a good line, enjoys her clever repartee and has a good sense of dialogue, but at no point in this play to these add up to produce anything like a coherent drama.

Director Lynn Parker has culled strong performances from the cast. But there is little to care about in the characters – a bunch of sectarian thugs – and no credibility to the narrative to pull us along with them. Humour is there throughout, but appears forced. The farce kicks in belatedly: a prolonged final scene involves two kneecappings, one neck-stabbing, revelations of gang rape and incest, and plenty of slamming of doors (noises off-style). But one scene of outrageous farce does not make up for a play of bland characterisation and improbable narrative.