The
Weir
- touring
Playwright
- Conor McPherson
Director - Ian Rickson
Designer - Rae Smith
Producers - Royal Court Theatre
Venue - Kings Theatre
Dates - 22 - 26 May then tour ended July in England
Times - Tues to Fri at 7:30pm Wed and Sat at 2:30pm
Performance lasts 1hr 50mins including interval.
Reviewer -Thelma Good
This is a well produced play with a strong cast. I usually prefer more
drama in my plays but The Weir is a fine example of how listening to
and watching how people tell stories over an evening can satisfy.
On a dark and stormy
night only people who can't find comfort at their own fireside go seeking
company. So it is in Brendan's black walled bar with spirit bottles
sitting on the shelves, there's fine reek of peat off the stove too.
Into the bar come Finbar who owns the Hotel in Carrick and Valerie,
a woman on her own - they are expected, word has got round. The only
two regulars, Jim and Jack, have dressed up for the occasion. Valerie
has just moved in to a local house. It's set in the present day but
throughout the play the past presses on these people.
Conor McPherson's
five characters pull tales from each other. It's clear they are affecting
one another as the evening goes on. Shifts happening when people leave
and come back from attending to the call of nature. Each man has a tinge
of surrealness in him and their tales explore, even when they don't
want them to, the Irish closeness to the other world. Like the gusts
outside the pub their tales go into unexpected places and turn back
on themselves, with interludes of banter and humour well realised and
with rhythms and cadences which are a delight to follow.
Jim Stahl gives us the charmer Finbar whose body moves still
like a young man. You understand how Valerie let him show her round
the neighbourhood, even though he swears quite a bit. The oldest regular
Jack has a careful dignity, played with fine attention by Ewan Hooper
to the economy that older men develop to keep on going. Fred Ridgeway
as Jim has the tale which goosebumped my skin. Brendan, Simon Wolfe,
the only one who doesn't tell a story is the caring barman I'd like
to meet, the light in this dark play. Lesley McGuire is Valerie,
her tale shaking the locals, told very movingly. It had a strange effect
on me, not perhaps one the writer intended. I believed the men's tales,
I didn't believe Valerie's. But I do understand why this play has been
attracting much attention since it was premiered by the Royal Court
in 1997.
© Thelma Good May 22 2001
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