A Review

Praise For A Liar

By R. J. Donovan

When J. M Synge’s “Playboy of the Western World” originally hit the Irish stage just after the turn of the century, it was met with such contempt that audiences rioted. After all, the main character was given a hero’s welcome for killing his father.

The Abbey Theatre production of “Playboy” playing at the Wilbur through November 21 (and presented by Broadway in Boston in association with the Huntington Theatre Company) will not cause riots. The once scandalous story is tame by today’s standards. Still, the acting company shows its skill, the language borders on the poetic and the story faithfully portrays the loneliness of a County Mayo village desperate for a hero of any kind.

Directed by the Abbey’s artistic director, Ben Barnes, this production adds a narrator, known as Bellman, who recites a section from the printed prologue of the play at the top of the show and then signals the action with a clash of cymbals.

Tom Vaughan Lawlor (left) is Christy Mahon, who arrives dirty and pitiful in the local shebeen (pub), where he hesitantly (at first) tells his tale of murder. He’s dealt a fatal blow to the skull of his father while digging potatoes in a field. The young mistress of the establishment, Pegeen, played by Cathy Belton (at left with Lawlor), takes him in -- and word spreads.

The man is subsequently heralded like a luminary. The local widow has eyes for him, the local girls fancy an up close and personal look, and the town soon takes this filthy pauper and turns him into a prince. To the people of this small isolated town, Christy's daring adventures make him the playboy of the western world.

Pegeen’s cowering fiancé Shawn (Andrew Bennett) sees sparks flying between his betrothed and the visitor and tries to bribe Christy into leaving town. Christy accepts the bribe -- a handsome suit of clothes -- and stays all the same. He subsequently sweeps Pegeen off her feet with a marriage proposal -- only to have his allegedly dead father show up and unravel his celebrity.

The truth is revealed and his vivid deeds are unmasked, so Christy takes another shot at stardom by trying to kill the old man with yet another crack to the skull. But now the town turns against him and tries to string him up (left).

As they say, there’s “a great gap between a gallous story and a dirty deed.” He is saved at the last minute by his seemingly immortal father, who never quite succumbs to any of this son’s attacks.

Lawlor is solidly persuasive as he makes Christy’s transformation from filthy boy to preening king. And Belton holds her own as the iron-willed Pegeen. Two other stand outs in the cast are John Olohan, featured as Pegeen’s father, Michael James, and Olwen Fouere (left) as the swaggering Widow Quin. Tough as nails (as are all the female characters), the Widow Quin has “buried her children and destroyed her husband,” but still longs for the touch of the young stranger.

The simple but effective set is designed by Guido Tondino. The high walls of the pub are topped by glass liquor bottles which glow when lit from below. The back wall then splits to reveal scenes outside the bar. Also of note is the full cast outdoor horse race staged by movement director Caimin Collins.

In 1907, “Playboy of the Western World” showed how a small village glorified a stranger to imperial status, solely because that stranger had done something despicable.

Synge might be surprised to see that the reality, almost a century later, is that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Playboy of the Western World" is at is at at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street in Boston, through November 21. For information, call 617-931-2787.

Note than Boston is one of only six American cities on this tour celebrating the Abbey Theatre's 100th anniversary.

Production Photos: Tom Lawlor

-- OnStage Boston

11/05/04