An Irish play with the usual Irish angst. But a formidable cast of three managed to pull it off, keeping us riveted throughout. You could not do this play with any weak cast, but Stuart Hughes, as Frank, Brenda Robbins as Grace and Diego Matamoros as Teddy were all superb. Who would think of Diego Matomoros as a Cockney? Now I do.
A story of faith, love and disappointment. The same story is told from three perspectives; you end up knowing all and knowing nothing.
I have a "thing" against Irish plays (GBS excepted, and he wasn't really Irish, just born there).
ReplyDeleteSo, I approached this with some trepidation, particularly as Soulpepper can sometimes do really flat productions.
However, this one worked. It is really a series of soliloquys with a Rashomon-like retelling of a story with each of the three characters not only filling out and correcting the previous characters version, but also building portraits of the of the characters, the relationship between them and each ones blindness to the others. At the end, you leave the theatre convinced you know more about them than they knew about one another despite, or perhaps because of, the lies they each told us.
Cathy's right - you could not put on this play unless you were totally convinced of the skills of the three actors involved. However, in these hands, Friel's subtle play is well served.