THE LONESOME WEST To 2 May.

Colchester.

THE LONESOME WEST
by Martin McDonagh.

Mercury Theatre To 2 May 2009.
Runs 2hr 20min One interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 April.

Comedy of the bad life with some good performances.
What mythmaking attaches to ideas of rural life. Even poverty looks attractive with landscaping. And misery comes gift-wrapped as tragic endurance. Except in Marin McDonagh’s plays, where Playboy Ireland is revealed in its unpoetic, small-minded viciousness and despair. Roman Catholicism’s reduced to tawdry figurines, brotherly relations to blackmail and violence.

Coleman and Valene slug it out with an intensity of words, blows and occasional shots sparked off by trivialities. Always trying to get one over each other, a packet of crisps can provoke a battle, while lies come automatic and full of conviction at any allegation. Valene’s inherited their father’s money, spending it on crisps, holy figures and a stove, on all of which he lavishes an affection that’s also a gloating over brother Coleman. And thereby Valene brings about the destruction of all he loves.

In Gari Gones’ Mercury revival, the audience takes to the stage along with the cast, sitting in banks of seating on three sides of the stage. Except the side banks don’t run the full stage depth, making for an inconclusive actor-audience relationship. It could be like peeping in on the Connor brothers’ lives, as curtains seal us all off from the auditorium. But the stage area beyond the side-seating creates a space that both is, and isn’t quite, among us.

While Coleman and Valene hold the stage it scarcely matters, so energetic and finely contrasted are the performances. David Tarkenter’s bruised-face Coleman is a fighter, taking every chance to score a point. As Valene, Ignatius Anthony, proprietorial in his Beckett-like routine of wiping his feet every time he enters, peering through his glasses, might seem more responsible but is every bit as short-fused and pugnacious as his brother.

The production doesn’t animate the other characters so well, though Valene Kane gives Girleen, saving-up by selling hooch round the place, a schoolgirl reality, her confident swagger and challenge covering the only genuine feelings for anyone else that the play possesses. Stephen Cavanagh’s priest seems to have given up before things start, while his legacy’s reduced to a game by the mentally immature, emotionally volatile brothers.

Father Welsh: Stephen Cavanagh.
Coleman Connor: David Tarkenter.
Valene Connor: Ignatius Anthony.
Girleen Kelleher: Valene Kane.

Director: Gari Jones.
Designer: Sara Perks.
Lighting: Matthew Eagland.
Sound: Marcus Christensen.
Dialect coach: Jo Cameron Brown.
Fight director: Philip D’Orleans.

2009-05-04 02:39:43