Ever watch two men trying to outdo each other to impress a woman? Imagine the action taking place in a rural Irish pub, and you've got the picture as the Actors Group presents "The Weir." Music, bar-stool banter
give play slice of Irish lifeReview by John Berger
Presented by the Actors Group at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays, through May 11 at Yellow Brick Studio, 625 Keawe St. Tickets are $10; call 722-6941 or e-mail Tag4tickets@hotmail.com 'The Weir'
jberger@starbulletin.comRumpled lifelong bachelor Jack resents Finbar, who is married and financially set, and has appointed himself to show newcomer Valerie around their little rural backwater. OK, so he's renting her a house, but couldn't one of the single men -- whether Jack, his loyal friend Jim or the bartender Brendan -- do the job?
The three bachelors can't agree on whether Finbar might actually make a move on the woman, but they're pretty sure that he'll be reveling in his escort role when he brings her by the pub. And so he does.
Veteran director (and Star-Bulletin columnist) Dave Donnelly brings playwright Conor McPherson's barroom drama to life with an outstanding hand-picked ensemble cast. Walter Eccles (Finbar) is convincingly abrasive, awkward and vulnerable in playing a self-made businessman who can't tell where good manners end and obnoxiousness begins.
Dion Donahue, one of those rare actors who is adept at straight drama and musical comedy, gives a nuanced performance as the bartender. Richard MacPherson, a commanding figure, has what seems at first one of the shallowest parts to play here, but ultimately delivers an award-worthy performance as the forthright jack-of-several-trades Jim, who's as comfortable repairing a car as digging a grave.
Kristen Van Bodegraven, little more than a sounding board for much of the play, blossoms when it's time for Valerie to reveal the circumstances that brought her to the village.
Jim Tharp completes the cast and proves Donnelly right in casting him as Jack. Tharp has become a "go-to" guy when local theater groups go casting for an introspective, rumpled and generally benign chap of a certain age. As Jack, Tharp is the focal point until Finbar arrives and the mood changes.
The aimless bar-stool banter that passes between Brendan, Jack and Jim becomes sharper and much more confrontational when the loud, abrasive Finbar joins in. The jockeying continues when the men's comments, and Valerie's questions, get them started on the area's history. Jack, Finbar and Jim each have a story grimmer than the one before -- tales of invisible "fairies," mysterious sightings, ghosts and a child molester.
AT TIMES the men realize that they may be telling Valerie more than she should know, and someone attempts to recant or downplay what's been said by adding that he may have imagined the whole thing. In each case, however, the story rings truer than the denial.
Then Valerie shares a story of her own.
"The Weir" will appeal most immediately to those able to quickly "translate" the Irish-English slang. The title refers to a nearby dam built to generate electricity; the same type of weir can also be used to regulate the flow of a stream or river, while another type is used to trap fish. All three meanings become relevant in appraising the characters.
The initial set-up rambles a bit, but the stories that follow -- in the form of four long, potentially problematic monologues -- hit home. Each cast member's monologue is made into a show-stopper in the best sense of the word.
Just when it seems that the competition between Jack and Finbar, and the play itself, has run its course, a seemingly pointless conversation touches off a final story that is perhaps the most tragic of all.
Donnelly presents this slice of Irish life on a beautifully detailed pub set created by Paul Guncheon with an assist from Henry Deardorf and David Farmer. Eammon Dillon's music helps establish the Irish milieu.
And be warned that although several of the characters step out of the pub during the show for bathroom breaks, "The Weir" runs roughly 90 minutes without a similar break for the audience.
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