Short But Sweet Festival Plays

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Irish Voice Entertainment

Short But Sweet Festival Plays

September 11, 2008

Review by Cahir O’Doherty

End of Lines
Various Playwrights

1st Irish Theatre Festival
59E59 Theaters, New York

THE 1st Irish Theatre Festival debuts in New York this week in fine style with End of Lines, a collection of five new 25 minute plays written by some of Ireland’s best contemporary playwrights.

The project started with a very simple idea — invite five writers to come New York, send them out to ride the local subways, and then ask them to write about plays about what they saw.

It’s a risky project, but there’s no question that it’s paid off handsomely. These writers have managed to produce some of the most thoughtful and affecting plays you’ll see in New York this year.

Twenty-five minutes is an odd allotment of time for a play – it’s too short for a one act, and too long for a short scene – but these gifted writers still manage to present us with richly imagined tales.

First up is The House Keeper by Morna Regan, the play that, as it turns out, has the least connection to the subway line that may have inspired it. In Regan’s tense and occasionally horrifying Manhattan drama we meet the half-mad Mary, a working stiff who has just lost her job and her home to downsizing.

In her desperation Mary invades the roomy penthouse of well to do Upper East Side lady Beth, hoping to convince her to leave. Mary knows that Beth owns multiple dwellings (she’s Googled her) and she only wants a little of what Beth is already so rich in — property.

Thematically The House Keeper is straightforward enough, but the central struggle between the two women feels rushed. Mary simply turns up in Beth’s apartment and the play kicks into gear without preamble, so there’s a weird unreality to the central struggle between the two women that’s never dispelled.

There’s no doubting the hard reality of Mary’s circumstances, but her decision to squat in a home where the owner is still present is simply unbelievable.

Actors Paula Nance, Jacqueline Knapp and Michael Graves do well with a script that demands a great deal from them, as does director Fiana Toibin. Regan’s script is provocative, thoughtful and bracingly unsentimental, but the central dilemma – who really earns what, and how is that determined, never quite coheres dramatically.

Evangeline Elsewhere by Pat Kinevane features a powerhouse performance by the gifted Kimberly Herbert Gregory, whose voice is as rich and evocative as Kinevane’s script at its best.

The achingly sad tale that unfolds involves a knife attack on the subway that results in the eventual death of Evangeline’s only child. The audience is moved – how could they fail to be? – by the needless and unspeakable suffering this results in. However, the play hovers in and out of Evangeline’s misery without a great deal of larger context or comment.

The Mission by Gary Duggan is a master class in writing for the stage. The setup is simplicity itself. On a subway platform two randy preppy boys from out of town — are they Mormon? Are they from Connecticut? — meet a young Dominican girl and mayhem quickly ensues.

Director Alyse Rothman guides the three young actors through a psychological maze expertly and the pace never falters. Duggan also navigates the racial and political undercurrents of New York life with real facility, like a native in fact. The energy, skill and hidden philosophical depth of this piece make it one of the clear highlights of the whole show.

Abbie Spallen’s enraged and genuinely chilling play, Shaving the Pickle, is a meditation on what life in New York may be like 20 years from now when temperatures soar in the 130s, strict caste systems separate rich from poor and natives are trying to emigrate from the U.S., not to it.

Spallen has managed to pack her 25 minutes with some of the most philosophically rich meditations on the U.S. and the culture wars that are shredding the national fabric from within seen on a New York stage this year.

The Parting Glass by Ursula Rani Sarma confirms her as one of the most distinctive talents to have emerged in Irish playwriting in recent years.

Writing of three Irish American brothers and the west of Ireland father who understands them all far better than they know, Rani Sarma manages to beguile the audience with a moving tale that feels complete despite its brevity. It’s a memorable and convincing argument in favor of the 1st Irish Theatre Festival which, with an introduction this strong, deserves all the funding and support it needs to continue.

End of Lines is now playing at 59East59 Theatre. For tickets call 212 279-4200. For more on the festival, visit www.1stirish.org.

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