Reviews
The Dead House, Dublin Theatre Festival, Oct 2023
Directed with admirable order by Maisie Lee
**** Donald Clarke, The Irish Times 01/10/23
Lúminaria, National Tour, May/June 2022, produced by Backstage Theatre
The simple quest structure of Lúminaria, Fionnuala Gygax’s first play for young audiences, belies a sophisticated approach to storytelling. It channels a deep emotional landscape, taking viewers on a dark journey in the safe space of the theatre… Martha Breen, Honi Cooke and Donncha O’Dea perform with evident glee under Maisie Lee’s energetic direction. Over 50 minutes audiences aged seven and over are thoroughly entertained.
Sara Keating, Sunday Business Post, 29/05/2022
Normal, Streamed production produced by Bewley’s Cafe Theatre and The Lock Inn
Karen Ardiff and Caoimhe O’Malley do a wrenchingly good job under Maisie Lee’s direction in this co-production between Bewley’s Café Theatre and The Lock Inn.
Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent, 31/05/2021
Good short plays can function like microscopes. They capture a single living thing and magnify details not usually visible to the naked eye. Normal does this on the subject of autism and autonomy…Director Maisie Lee takes a realistic and emotionally direct approach….two terrific performances ensure this has a vivid emotional impact.
Katy Hayes, Independent, 29/05/2021
EMBARGO, Dublin Theatre Festival
“A brave, strongly acted production”
****Donald Clarke, Irish Times, 13/10/2020
“Atmospheric…engaging and provocative..”
**** Sara Keating, Business Post, 17/10/2020
“Director Maisie Lee shapes the material with seamless clarity and creates a totally engrossing event.”
Katy Hayes, Irish Independent, 17/10/2020
In Our Veins, Peacock Theatre
“Great credit should go to the director, Maisie Lee who makes this complex work fit together. It’s a very enjoyable potted history of the last hundred years of life in Dublin.”
No More Workhorse 15/04/2019
“An absolute delight. Due in no small measure to its large heart and one cracking ensemble.”
Chris O’Rourke, The Arts Review, 16/04/2019
“Charming performances and admirably quick motion... In a spry and economic production, director Maisie Lee… maintains an involving momentum.”
Peter Crawley, The Irish Times, 17/04/2019
Normal, Bewley's Cafe Theatre
"Lunchtime theatre has made a welcome return to Bewley’s on Grafton Street with an intense production that allows actors Karen Ardiff and Caoimhe O’Malley to flourish in their respective roles... An impressive piece and a fine way to reopen this venue."
**** Ciarán Leinster, The Reviews Hub, 09/04/2018
"This is a well crafted piece of theatre... It is thoughtfully performed by Ardiff and O’Malley. In short, it is a fine choice to reopen the new Bewley’s Cafe Theatre."
Frank L, No More Workhouse, 12/04/2018
Normal, Dublin Fringe Festival
"Caitriona Daly’s excellent and beguiling new play brings to light the needs of someone living with autism...the care detectable in the portrayal and staging demonstrate the amount of precaution that has gone into creating Normal... [in] Director Maisie Lee's absorbing production for WeGet HighOnThisCollective".
Chris McCormack, Exeunt Magazine, 22/09/2017
"Under the direction of Maisie Lee, both actors nicely flesh out their roles... an arresting portrait of love in difficult circumstances."
Irish Times, 20/09/2017
Something Unspoken, Bewley's Café Theatre
“The character's relationship is written with great delicacy and is directed and performed with great sensitivity”
**** stars, Show of the Week. Michael Moffatt, Irish Mail on Sunday, 10/07/2016
"It's given a charming production at Bewley's Lunchtime Theatre at Powerscourt in Dublin, directed by Maisie Lee... and couldn't be bettered for a summer lunchtime."
Emer O'Kelly, Irish Independent, 10/07/2016
Our Island, Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival
“Under Lee’s masterful direction, “Our Island” is crafted into a sensitive, funny and deeply moving piece of theatre… Treat yourself and your significant other to a magic carpet ride on the feel good show of the festival. It’s pure magic."
***** Extract from Examiner.com, 10/09/2015
“Our Island”… is just really, really bloody good. The performances are first rate across the board... While there were laughs throughout, by the end I could hear quite a few of the audience sniffling into their hankies… Highly recommended."
Extract from Meg.ie, 11/10/2015
"...Mirari’s new play by Barry McStay, with assured direction from Maisie Lee. An impressive cast give flawlessly timed performances in Lee’s production... McStays’ play deftly addresses everything from the notion of family, to Nationhood and sexuality in a light-handed yet thought provoking way. I can see this play on a larger stage soon, gaining an even wider audience, as it richly deserves. Go see."
Extract from nomoreworkhorse.ie, 9/10/2015
"Our Island is a terrific piece of writing, hugely impressively acted and directed… handled with extraordinary sureness by the author and the director Maisie Lee. It’s a Mirari Production at Project, with pitch perfect, even faultess performances throughout."
Extract from Emer O’Kelly’s Sunday Independent, 13/10/2015
"Maisie Lee sensitively directs a fine cast."
**** Extract from Sunday Times, 13/10/2015
In Dog Year's I'm Dead, Dublin Fringe Festival & Bewley's Cafe Theatre
"Heffernan’s plot hews very well to the classic ‘boy meets girl’ story arc so beloved of rom coms. This isn’t a bad thing. In spite of its predictability, the plot, aided by Bannon’s and Ruane’s performances, keeps you engaged. Maisie Lee’s direction also keeps the action moving smoothly, and Stephen Dodd’s lighting design shifts us from location to location seamlessly.
**** Irish Theatre Magazine review, 11/09/2013
"A new play is always a good thing. When that play turns out to have a naturalness and genuine warmth, while not always taking the obvious road, it makes it all the better. Kate Heffernan’s new play In Dog Years I’m Dead is a winning comedy and a genuine joy to watch….It has a sit-com feel to it, and if it was a pilot, it would no doubt be taken up for a full season. A warm, feel good comedy, that has a few surprises, makes for a wonderful, and excellent, night out."
****1/2 stars, The Public Reviews, 12/09/13
THRESHOLD, 'Turnaround', Project Arts Centre
"Any good? Yes, a cracker. It’s all harsh recriminations and fleshy deception. On the surface it’s about a moment of logical madness, but this is complex, deftly layered entertainment…This is page-turner theatre…I left the theatre with a firm conviction that Dublin city is in safe hands. Bravo!"
*****The Daily Mail, 26/04/12