THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD. To 27 September.
Southampton.
THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD
by J M Synge
Nuffield Theatre To 27 September 2008
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 27 Sept 3pm.
Audio-described/BSL Signed 27 Sept 3pm.
Post-shoe Discussion 18 Sept.
Ruins 2hr 25min One interval.
TICKETS: 023 8067 1771.
www.nuffieldtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 September.
Colourful folksiness dropped in favour of reality.
One night after this show there’s a Meet the Cast session. But you’ll have met several beforehand anyway. For local girls Sara and Susan are out, smiling or scowling and offering something warm to any single man in the audience who owns a farm.
That severely restricts their options but points up that, beneath the golden dialogue, Synge’s characters are as much after something as anyone. Throughout, director Patrick Sandford emphasises the sense of reality encouraged by Juliet Shillingford’s forward-thrusting set.
Realism and fantasy are also contrasted as the torn-off wall of Michael Flaherty’s shebeen flies away when lionised father-slayer Christy Mahon is visited by his supposedly dead dad searching out the wimp of a son who struck lucky with the angry blow of a loy (the Irish spade, apparently crafted differently in each locality).
Suddenly space is abstract, the remaining doorframe ignored, the vantage-point for watching Christy winning races moving round the stage. Until the second attempt at patricide, when wall and realism return, reflecting the difference Pegeen describes between hearing of a murder and seeing the dirty deed done.
When Christy’s former fans attack him, Sandford minimises their fear, and has Pegeen calmly lassoing him before he’s noticed. The burn she gives leaves a clear mark. And her final realisation of what she’s lost (preceding here a snap blackout), is vivid as she cowers despairingly behind a bench, approached by her future in the shape of Caolan Byrne’s Shawn Keogh with his naïve, cherubic moon-face.
Yet early on, Emily Nagle’s Pegeen gave Shawn his chance, stroking his face and eliciting no response. She shows real hurt, as does Michele Moran’s Widow, at comments about her, trying momentarily to laugh them off defensively. And John Hollingworth’s Christy finally takes on the mantle others cast over him.
This isn’t the most subtly spoken Playboy; central performances are sometimes stretched. But it’s startlingly human, with strong surrounding performances (Billy Clarke’s local farmer especially, stabbing the air in drunken mockery of Christy, yet sticking with his certainty that Old Mahon’s in his right mind). This is a playboy well worth the staging.
Pegeen Mike: Emily Nagle.
Shawn Keogh: Caolan Byrne.
Michael James Flaherty: Dan Mullane.
Jimmy Farrell: Kieran Cunningham.
Philly Cullen: Billy Clarke.
Christy Mahon: John Hollingworth.
Widow Quin: Michele Moran.
Sara Tansey: Noaleen Comiskey.
Susan Brady: Theone Rashleigh.
Honor Blake: Anna Bolton.
Old Mahon: Rory Murray.
Peasant/Bellman: Richard Luke.
Director: Patrick Sandford.
Designer: Juliet Shillingford.
Lighting: David W Kidd.
Sound: Rob Jones.
Assistant director: Jack McNamara.
2008-09-17 13:13:11