The Last Picnic is somewhere between childhood play and straight out pathological fulfillment. In the centre of the art's space sit's a child's rug and upon it sits a range of equally odd looking children's soft toys. Present are everything from a cuddley pineapple to a small hedgehog and a large racoon. the all sit in a circle. Waiting on something...
Then we hear the music. Nothing shocking, more calming and again reminding us of childhood. It's the theme music from 'the gallery' section of the 1980's BBC children's TV program 'Heart Beat'. 'The gallery' music was played in the section of the program, where the little artworks viewers had made, were shown on TV. There 1st steps towards the Turner prize no doubt (but then again maybe I'm jelous because they never showed my work).
Meabh then walks into the space carrying a picnic basket. She goes and sits with her friends. Out of the basket she takes a big blue bowl of sweeties and lollypops. She then walks around the audience offering them some sweets. All the time the vibraphone tones of the music repeat in a slightly disjointed loop, adding to the childish play of the whole scenario. Audience members are unwrapping their lollies and sucking on them like big children. Some of them are swaying side to side and laughing, while some of them, the more devoid of humour, are looking on in a slightly disapproving manner, but who cares about people who have lost their sense of fun?
After handing out the lolly pops et al, Meabh joins her friends on the rug and puts on a wolfs head. She then goes round each one of them and, depending how well she seems to know them, she either gives them a hug or shakes hands with them. she seems very happy to be their with them. She places a cake in the middle of the rug and covers it in squirty cream. She offers some to her friends, grabbing one of them and ramming it into its fury mouth.
She begins to offer them sweets from her big bowl. Some of them don't have mouths, now there's a problem... I know Meabh seems to think, and reaching into her Picnic basket she suddenly produces a large electric drill and grabbing the bear that looks like a Belfast Taxi driver fly's at him with drill whirling. straight for the mouth. The drill bit goes straight in and the bear fly's round madly on the end of the drill. Meabh grabs it by the head and holds it with one foot and then goes at it again with the drill, it looks funny but painful. She rips the drill out of his newly made mouth and sticks a lolly in it. Problem solved!


Image: Meabh McDonnell in Her wolf mask just after drilling one of her fury friends a new mouth

But what is this tendency that making a new mouth for her friend seems to have invoked in her?
Meabh reaches into her picnic basket and brings out an electric carving knife. She reaches for the nearest 'friend', who happens to be some kind of short eager looking crocodile thing with gloves and a sun hat, and proceeds to try and saw its head right off, which she manages to do. The head then goes in the centre of the rug on top of the cake. Then she goes for another of them, again sawing its head off, and placing it on the cake, and on top of this a layer of more squirty cream. Her friends don't look worried. Why would they be? They're not really real, are they? Yet, although it is funny, it is still slightly painful to watch this pathological scene unfold.
When Meabh is done with the dismembering and the cake building, she takes a little birthday Candle and lights it on top of the cake. It really was 'the last picnic' for some of those fury 'friends' present, while at the same time being a very funny and fulfilling pathological pinic for one. Thankfully Meabh stopped and legged it before someone called the fury police.