REVIEW
Outside Mullingar
Shadow Theatre Production
Runs until March 25
Varscona Theatre
10329 – 83 Ave.
Tickets: Call 780-434-5564
The dramatic comedy Outside Mullingar opens hours after a funeral as rain lashes down on the Irish countryside.
But the rain and any cloudy foreboding quickly disappears. Directed by John Hudson, this 90-minute romantic comedy, which opened Thursday night at Varscona Theatre, plays out with gentle, illuminating hand.
Pulitzer Prize winning playwright John Patrick Shanley, has a gift for lyrical dialogue and an intuitive understanding of the Irish heart. In this play, he successfully peddles a charming romance filled with wit, humour and a strong dash of sweet sentimentality.
Underneath the four Irish characters' simple demeanour are complicated individuals and Shanley has tapped into the different loves they experience: secret love, the discovery of first love, tormented love and most tragic of all – lost love. Last but not least, is a profound love of land that is at the root of Irish identity.
The opening scene of Outside Mullingar is set in the cramped stone kitchen of Tony Reilly (Glenn Nelson), and his unmarried 42-year-old son Anthony (Garett Ross).
The Reillys invite Aoife Muldoon (Coralie Cairns) and her stubborn single daughter Rosemary (Jenny McKillop) to the house after the funeral of Aoife’s husband.
A soothing cup of tea quickly morphs into a fair bit of comedic squabbling as only long-time friends are prone to do. With emphysema in her lungs, Aoife is sure she’ll be joining her husband in six months much to Rosemary’s chagrin.
Tony, who also is not long for this world, threatens to disinherit his son. But despite the father-son verbal sparring there is a deep affection between them.
The main focus, however, is Anthony and Rosemary’s relationship. From their first conversation, it’s obvious they are meant for each other. But to put it mildly, their romance has never gotten off the ground, especially since both do such a good job of erecting personal walls.
Rosemary still holds a grudge against Anthony for pushing her to the ground when she was six and he was 13. She is constantly berating him, yet when Anthony’s father considers leaving the farm to an American nephew, she creates such an uproar, the old man backs down.
Rosemary is a character whose bark and bite are equally daunting. She has rejected numerous suitors always hoping Anthony would come calling. A strong woman, her only vulnerability is an unrelenting love for Anthony. McKillop lays all that tenderness on stage.
Anthony has always shut off personal contact with women and has resigned himself to a life of solitary labour. Determined to keep a secret (and let me tell you, it’s a whopper), he’s alienated himself from women and the joys of romance.
Playing the quieter, repressed Anthony can get tedious. Yet Ross cultivates a character that is earnest, good-hearted and completely charming.
Cairns' Aoife is completely natural in her role, and Nelson’s Tony is a delightful, stubborn and over-the-top patriarch.
There were a few times I shook my head at the silliness of human nature, but romance is always in fashion. If you can use a good round of laughs, Outside Mullingar will warm your heart.
