Irish stage traditions fold into 'Farce'
THEATER REVIEW | Trio of actors takes full advantage of showcase
They clearly are bonkers. Or perhaps they have been ingesting some insane blend of steroids and amphetamines. Or maybe they are just penniless actors using their shambles of an apartment as a place to rehearse.
However you choose to explain their behavior, the three crazed Irishmen in Enda Walsh's "The Walworth Farce" -- a production of Galway's Druid theater company, now in a brief run in Chicago Shakespeare's Upstairs space -- keep you watching and guessing for a good part of the play's first act as they engage in their bizarre rituals. And something about the absolute precision and rabid intensity of these men's anarchic comings and goings, and the subtly dangerous undertow of their manic banter, makes you fearful.
The characters' sanity is already up for grabs (and ultimately you might wonder how the trio of brilliantly tuned actors here can sustain their own sanity given the relentless pace of director Mikel Murfi's marathon dash). Just look at how obsessively Dinny (the gravel-voiced and maniacal Michael Glenn Murphy) rubs his bare head with balm. Or how Blake (the graceful and droll Raymond Scannell) engages in multiple transvestite personalities. Or how Sean (the uncannily crazy-sane Tadhg Murphy) suggests a terrified puppy with a crazily shaved scalp and a sense of perpetual fear.
As we discover, this is a father and his two sons who hail from rural, seemingly idyllic Cork, but are trapped in hard, terrifying, inner-city London. Just how they got to England and why they live as they do is a very different matter. Suffice it to say, they are one mightily dysfunctional family, and if you thought the clan in Harold Pinter's classic "The Homecoming" was locked in a strangely menacing power struggle, this male triumvirate can compete.
Yes, Walsh has taken a note from Pinter. Just consider the impact of the arrival of a woman, Hayley (the sublimely luminous and guileless Mercy Ojelade). There are echoes of McDonagh's theater of Irish cruelty. And you might even detect a bit of pitch black "Peter Pan" in the mix, though Walsh certainly has his own demented vision. (And he gets points in my book simply for describing Irish step-dancing as "a running event for people afraid of travel.")
And although the whole production (ideally designed by Sabine Dargent) is just a bit too long and relentlessly high-pitched, you come away from "The Walworth Farce" thinking seriously about many things: the enduring pain of Irish migrants in England; the feverish bond, as well as the cruelty that can exist between fathers and sons; the role of women as a civilizing force; the impossibility of escaping the past; the nature of child abuse; the complexity of race and identity. And above all, there is the nature of the actor's art -- the repetition, the energy, the emotional connection, the hint of madness and the sheer physical and mental endurance needed to do it.
But be forewarned: The "Farce" in the title is a red herring.
STAGE NOTES:
-- The Griffin Theatre production of "Letters Home," the powerful dramatic work based on letters from U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been touring the country for a couple of years now, with performances at military bases and schools, as well as in traditional theaters. On Nov. 11, Veterans Day, the show will be performed at Connecticut's fabled Westport Country Playhouse, with Brian Dennehy serving as host. For details go to: www.westportplayhouse.org.
-- Playwright Craig Wright's crackling satire "Mistakes Were Made" has become a major hit for Chicago's A Red Orchid Theatre, where Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon will complete his bravura starring turn on Saturday. And now, the Emmy-nominated writer ("Six Feet Under," "Dirty Sexy Money") has officially joined the ensemble.