Access Atlanta > Arts > Our Reviews > Archives > 2005 > September > 22 > Entry
Theatre Gael: ‘Plough and the Stars’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “The Plough and the Stars.” Through Oct. 16.
Sean O’Casey’s “The Plough and the Stars” —- a bleak comedy about the shelling of Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916 —- is a noble meditation on the emotional costs of patriotism, as paid by those on the battlefield and those left behind.
Awash in a sea of terror that will consume her community and destroy her husband, Nora Clitheroe is a keening heroine cut from the cloth of Medea and Ophelia. Thankfully, O’Casey tempers his tragedy with a chorus of Irish poets, clowns and vagabonds whose salty poetry cushions the despair with laughter and humanity.
In this classic, Theatre Gael artistic director John Stephens hears an echo of our time. But instead of using his season opener as a shrill commentary on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he introduces a few devices that let theatergoers draw their own conclusions about the repetitive nature of history. Like the theater’s “A Man of No Importance” last year, the production turns a sprawling canvas into a clearly focused ensemble piece that radiates like a miniature gem.
That said, some of the best performances are the smaller ones, delivered by actors who render O’Casey’s vivid personalities with comic brio.
Peter Flynn (the hysterical Larry Davis) is a combination of fussy old maid and queer uncle, particularly when taunted by the Young Covey (John Chatham). Bessie Burgess (Lynne Ashe) is a hissing old biddy with her chin in her cups who sides with the cause of the crown. (Witness the scene in which she pops her head out of a cuckoo-clock-style window to croak “Rule, Britannia.”) The lovely Katie Merritt portrays Rosie Redmond as a sweetly vulnerable canary-of-the-night whose signature song is Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose.”
Wait a minute. Piaf didn’t write that until the mid-’40s, and O’Casey’s play appeared in 1926. What’s going on here?
This is one of Stephens’ anachronistic touches, ironic winks that supply the 79-year-old drama with contemporaneity and resonance. During the evening, he introduces TV newscasts and a remote control, Huggies diapers and a Macintosh computer (in the looting sequence) and a graffiti wall featuring a mug of leftist du jour Che Guevara (1928-1967). The British attackers also speak in accents more reminiscent of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning than Bristol and Manchester.
As solid as Bessie and Fluther Good (the blustery Winslow Thomas) are, I found myself wishing the actors would bare more of the sharp edges they displayed so cannily in “Dancing at Lughnasa” and “Man of No Importance,” respectively. And while Marcie Millard is a fine character actor, she’s perhaps too physically mature to play Nora, the young wife of the doomed hero Jack (who’s quietly and handsomely detailed by Mark Russ). Still, theirs is a touching, if slightly mismatched, romance.
In a season brimming with onstage commentaries about war, “The Plough and the Stars” finds vitality in an old text. With a few masterful strokes, Stephens revivifies the play without mangling it. Given the climate of crisis both at home and abroad, his timely choice is sadly rewarding.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 16. $16-$22. Theatre Gael, 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St. N.E., Midtown. 404-733-4750. www.theatregael.com
Verdict: Fresh take on Irish war classic.
Permalink | | Categories: Theater
