DRUID SYNGE. To 3 September.

Edinburgh

'DRUIDSYNGE
by J M Synge.

Druid Theatre Company at King's Theatre To 3 September 2005.
31 August, 3 September 2pm.
Runs 8hr 30min Four intervals.

1 September 7.30pm The Shadow of the Glen + The Playboy of the Western World.
Runs 3hr One interval.

2 September 3pm The Tinker's Wedding + The Well of the Saints.
2hr 20 min One interval.

2 Sept 7.30pm Riders to the Sea + Deidre of the Sorrows.
Runs 2hr 10min One interval.

TICKETS 0131 473 2000.
www.eif.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28, 29 August.

An indigestible feast all at once, and not all the ingredients are successful, but a rare chance to meet a fine playwright in all his shades.
Synge's 6 plays show him to have been as skilful with the dramatic 'novel' and 'short-story'. Only Playboy - the longest - is regularly seen in Britain (the brief, brilliantly-constructed Riders has some outings) and Galway's Druid Theatre Company does a service in showing the complete oeuvre at once, whatever the shortcomings in Garry Hynes' individual productions.

The full-day presentations puzzle me. These plays were never written to be performed together; nor do they form a story-cycle like manufactured trilogies of Greek tragedies or Shakespearean histories - constructions which show a dramatic mind at work on one area of myth, history or the 2 combined.

Nor is this a looser 'cycle' in the manner of Beethoven symphonies, where processes of development in an artistic language can be followed. Served-up all in a day, this isn't a dramatic meal; it's a multi-decker indigestion sandwich.

And running Playboy without an interval is harmful. Synge's act-end climaxes, the fresh beginnings of new acts, and the structuring of his story become confused in a way accentuated by Hynes' fast-gallop approach. The third-act sadness and lyricism between Pegeen Mike and Christy is lost. It's well enough for Irish directors to make clear to Brit audiences this is no dewy-eyed Celtic twilight but Pegeen's loss, and her own part in it, need to mean more than this perfunctory end allows.

Playboy mentions a papal dispensation and introduces a one-way ticket to America. This is no timeless community, and throughout Hynes points up the reality of Synge's comic world - consider the amount of work his characters have to do - while also producing images reminiscent of Samuel Beckett. This is especially clear in the 'resurrection' during Shadow of the Glen .

Well of the Saints - a shorter 3-act play where the no-interval approach is more justified. and one of the play to come off best here - has costumes suggesting an early 1960s setting. It goes well with the large-cast company's ability to field a good display of bystanders, here a tabloid crowd who look on fascinated and mocking at the big story of the day, as the long-married Douls gain their sight through a saint's holy water.

Exposed to ridicule as their illusions smash the pair return happily to blindness. As the area behind a door upstage turns from the white purity of a church to the hellish red of a forge where the sighted Martin has to wrok, the staging reinforces the play's serious humour, and there's a lovely moment as Martin, first to see again, pushes aside wrinkled old Mary, who's still blind and waiting for him, as he searches round the village girls for the wife he's been imagining still young and beautiful.

The 2 tragedies tend to avoid modern references, though the old king Conchubar pronounced 'Connor') is reduced in stature by his modern business suit and young Deidre (variously 'Deer-dru' and 'Dare-dru') varies between the shortish modern dress suggesting her vulnerability in his power-world and the full-length medieval robes in which she rules with her beloved Naisi ('Nishe').

Druid is a lively company, a positive player in Irish theatre. But it's no National Theatre (unlike the Abbey Theatre, which is, though in the light of their recent vulgar Shaughraun that's clearly no guarantee of quality) and the acting quality is variable, as is Hynes' direction. Riders comes over beautifully, showing Francis O' Connor's high-walled set to advantage, as it does Davy Cunningham's lighting, smoky beams among the shadows as tragic realisation comes upon a bereaved mother.

Some details might be a matter of alien comprehension. Passages of fast speech can be difficult to pick up for non-Irish ears and while the portrait brought on in low-light at the end of Deidre is doubtless significant I had no idea why, or who it showed.

But one thing an Irish production should guarantee is a certainty with accent which means vocal effort can focus on meaning. Despite this there's too much monotony of tone and cadence in Deidre. And making Tinker's Wedding's Priest a clear figure of fun from the start reduces the sense of his descent into the wayside world he encounters (Simone Kirby's punkish Sarah Casey, rapidity apart, gives a vivid picture of street (or ditch)-wise manipulation of pompous respectability).

But there are fine performances from Marie Mullen. Her Widow Quin in Playboy shows a true affection for Christy in triumph and trouble, and in Well there's a depth of longing and pain to her Mary Doul.

A mixed bag then, and not best consumed all at once. But also a rare chance to see plays that deserve to be seen more often than they mostly are.

Riders to the Sea:
Cathleen: Louise Lewis.
Nora: Gemma Reeves.
Maurya: Marie Mullen.
Bartley: Aaron Monaghan.

The Tinker's Wedding:
Sarah Casey: Simone Kirby.
Michael Byrne: Aaron Monaghan.
Priest: Eamon Morrissey.
Mary Byrne: Marie Mullen.

The Well of the Saints:
Martin Doul: Eamon Morrissey.
Mary Doul: Marie Mullen.
Timmy the smith: Aaron Monaghan.
Molly Byrne: Sarah-Jane Drummey.
Bride: Hannah McCabe.
Saint: Marcus Lamb.

The Shadow of the Glen:
Dan Burke: Eamon Morrissey.
Nora Burke: Catherine Walsh.
Tramp: Mick Lally.
Michael Dara: Nick Lee.

The Playboy of the Western World:
Pegeen Mike: Catherine Walsh.
Shawn Keogh: Nick Lee.
Michael James Flaherty: Derry Power.
Philly O'Cullen: Marcus Lamb.
Jimmy Farrell: Eoin Lynch.
Christopher Mahon: Aaron Monaghan.
Widow Quin: Marie Mullen.
Sara Tansey: Gemma Reeves.
Honor Blake: Louise Lewis.
Susan Brady: Hannah McCabe.
Old Mahon: Eamon Morrissey.

Deidre of the Sorrows:
Lavarcham: Marie Mullen.
Old Woman: Peg Power.
Conchubor: Mick Lally.
Fergus: Eoin Lynch.
Owen: Aaron Monaghan.
Deidre: Gemma Reeves.
Naisi: Richard Flood.
Ainnle: Nick Lee.
Ardan: Charlie McCarthy.
Soldier: Marcus Lamb.

Director: Garry Hynes.
Designer: Francis O'Connor.
Lighting: Davy Cunningham.
Sound: John Leonard.
Composer: Sam Jackson.
Movement: David Bolger.
Costume: Kathy Strachan.

2005-08-30 11:43:38