The Playboy
of the Western World
Written by John Millington Synge
Directed by Michael Menendian
at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark (map)
thru April 5 | tickets: $36 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Sterling staging lifts this Raven revival to the stars
Raven Theatre presents
The Playboy of the Western World
Review by Lawrence Bommer
107 years young, this dynamic work brought its brilliant author deserved renown and unexpected controversy. (It was a bit too true to be good.) Rhapsodically penned, J. M. Synge’s masterwork exposes the blighted inhabitants living on the windy outcrop of a seaside dump in county Mayo. (Synge lived amongst the grizzled islanders, picking up and preserving the beautiful cadences and astonishing eloquence that embellished even their most ordinary blarney.)
Outwardly viewed, it’s a tabloid tale set in a rural waste: The Playboy of the Western World could be a dark and pitiless retelling of an ugly story: A lonely country lad who’s been mocked by the girls and bullied by his dad finally strikes back—with a hoe (or “loy”) that enters his father’s head, then flees rather than face prison for parricide. When he ends up in a lonely poteen (or tavern) on the far edge of the “Western world” (Ireland’s Atlantic coast), Christy Mahon is perversely prized as a brave bad boy, fought over by the giggling local girls, all but seduced by the husband-hungry Widow Quin, and destined to fall deeply and poetically into first and final love with Pegeen Mike. This tough beauty is the buxom daughter of the bibulating barkeep and a hardened colleen who is unhappily engaged to the wimpy Shawn Keogh. Christy, quickly promoted to “pot boy” to protect the shanty bar, offers her a way out from domestic dreariness and the pathetic offspring that Shawn will spawn.
Synge regales this bounteous comedy with cunning wit, exploring as much as exposing their hardscrabble survival as well as the lush language that atones for the barren landscape. There’s a ton of psychology involved in the character conflicts that make this such a rollicking laugh riot—and there’s also an implied criticism of the Irish psyche, where martyrdom matters more than morality and actions are served without consequences.
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Gloriously goofy and charming as a spell as he blooms into a false hero, Sam Hubbard gives Christy the nervous energy of a vole in heat, not to mention a certain coarse credibility to the gawky “playboy” athlete. As his wrong-hearted sweetheart hardened by life in this ugly pub, Jen Short’s Pegeen beautifully blossoms into an infatuated lover as possessive as passionate. Playing the horny-minded but good-natured Widow Quin, Sarah Hayes is full of unexpected wisdom and all the wonderful wiles of an inspired opportunist.
Splendid work from these perfectly cast caricatures includes Matt Bartholomew’s perpetually soused tavern owner, Lindsay Tornquist as a teasing tomgirl, and Lawrence Garner as an indestructible patriarch straight out of a childhood nightmare.
It’s all perfectly pictured in Andrei Onegin’s richly detailed and distressed roadhouse and accurately costumed by Alaina Moore. A torrent of sound and fury, the fights by David Woolley and Menendian’s own blocking make Raven’s triumph as exciting to watch as it’s enthralling to hear.
Rating: ★★★★
The Playboy of the Western World continues through April 5th at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark (map), with performances Thursdays-Sundays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $36, and are available by phone (773-338-2177) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at RavenTheatre.com. (Running time: 2 hours, includes an intermission)
Photos by Keith Claunch
artists
cast
Matt Bartholomew (Michael James), Conor Clark (Peasant), Graham Emmons (Shawn Keough), Leah Frires (Susan Brady), Larry Garner (Old Mahon), Sarah Hayes (Widow Quin), Darren Hill (Jimmy Farrell), Sam Hubbard (Christy Mahon), Dean La Prairie (Philly Cullen), Martha Reddick (Honor Blake), Jen Short (Pegeen Mike), Lindsay Tornquist (Sara Tansey).
behind the scenes
Michael Menendian (director), Andrei Onegin (set design), Alaina Moore (costume design), Mary O’Dowd (prop design), Leif Olsen (composer), Joe Court (sound design), David Woolley (fight design), Keith Claunch (photos)
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