Irish Eyes Aren't Smilin'

ne need only think back to the O.J. Simpson trial to be reminded how fascinating murder and suspected murderer can be. Savagery can be a curiosity and in some cases can even provoke admiration. John Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, now open at Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, explores just these themes. Despite its setting in Ireland at the turn of the century, the play remains a fresh exposZ of a town shaken up by the arrival of a wanderer who claims to have recently killed his father.

Synge noted that he was driven to write Playboy because of an Irish belief that "a man will not do wrong unless he is under the influence of a passion which is as irresponsible as a storm on the sea." Taking this belief to its extreme, he shows us a patricidal protagonist who becomes a loved and fought-over celebrity in an isolated village on the coast of Mayo. His arrival also creates the dramatically typical love triangle that really propels the latter half of the play.

This love triangle propels the Playmakers' performance, as well. The most vividly portrayed relationship throughout the play is Christopher Mahon and Margaret Flaherty's attraction within this threesome. Cody Nickell and Katherine Heasley convincingly convey the magnetism between an apparently courageous playboy and his willful employer.

The supporting roles in the play are delivered less satisfactorily, however. Margaret's father, suitor and the gossiping village women are all played somewhat woodenly with uneven Irish accents at best. Particularly uninspired is Ray Dooley in a Frankensteinesque portrayal of Mahon's father.

The jutting stage of the Playmakers theatre was well suited for this play, where almost all of the action occurred in just one room. Its depth allowed the actors' movement essential in what was a sparse pub set. The production's lighting design was similarly typical and sparse but served its purpose in highlighting the more important physical aspects of the action. Music, for all purposes, was extremely lacking in this production. A fife tune that sounded suspiciously like a Chieftans track was played before and after each act, but no other sound was employed. The director and composer clearly believed that the musical Irish brogue would carry the play instead. Despite the help of a voice coach, most of the actors of this play fail to carry out this mission and are unable to evoke the mixture of prose and verse style that Synge's dialogue intends.

Overall, the emotional potential of Synge's work is untapped by Playmakers' performance. The action and dZnouement of this drama provide some fodder for thought about our own visions of celebrity, but the company managed to convey only the barest hint of what this play could be if the actors were not stumbling through two hours of Irish lilt.