Theater review | Shanley play sparkles at FST in Sarasota
It's almost a "spoiler" to merely reveal that John Patrick Shanley's "Outside Mullingar" is a romantic comedy.
For its first 75 minutes or so, the play, which opened Wednesday at Sarasota's Florida Studio Theatre, doesn't tell you where it's heading. It seems to be a good-natured comedy about intergenerational conflict in rural Ireland, about an aging father and his restless, but aimless, adult son, and the father's plans for the family farm after he dies.
All that turns out to be a set-up for a long and sparkling final scene in which the play shows its true intent. The set-up is a lot of fun, but even if it weren't, it would be worth sitting through to get to that finale.
Shanley's a prolific and spotty writer, whose best work, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Doubt: A Parable" and the Oscar-winning screenplay for "Moonstruck," are wondrous. But besides creating that level of work, he's also been responsible for writing "Joe Versus the Volcano" and "The January Man," two legendarily awful films.
"Outside Mullingar" is almost certainly his best play since "Doubt" 12 years ago, and it gets a beautiful staging at FST, directed by Kate Alexander.
The first thing you notice is the lovely set by Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay. Their rustic interior of an Irish home introduces us to the characters even before the actors walk on stage. Rainfall is essential to the initial scenes, and the designers have water spilling off the roofs and out of a gutter just outside the home. It's a lovely and impressive visual effect.
The set transforms into a couple of other interiors during the course of the play. Costumed stage hands move the set around, visibly and deftly. Alexander even allows them to take a bow at the curtain call, which is kind of cool.
When we meet the characters -- two sets of neighbors, a father and son and a mother and daughter -- we're in the home of the two men.
They're joined by the two women, coming from the funeral of the
older woman's husband.
The dialogue is brisk and entertaining, full of folksy Irish observations. George Tynan Crowley and Louisa Flaningam as the parents, are crusty but bedraggled, and you clearly sense the long history between the two neighbors, whose families have lived next to each other for generations. (Flaningam shouts her lines, which is distracting, especially because the Gompertz Theatre is smallish, and the actors all wear microphones.)
Their offspring -- he in his 40s and she in her 30s -- are played by Gil Brady and Claire Warden. The play bursts to life in the scenes between the two of them.
Actually, the play is effervescent whenever Warden's onstage. Her scene with the two adults, when we get our first hints of the play's destination, are a treat to watch. Her character is richly drawn, and Warden's performance deepens it.
In that final scene, some years after the opening scenes, Warden's acting is triumphant, and her interplay with Brady is a delight.
Shanley's script delivers a lot of surprises in that scene, but it still wraps everything up neatly and logically. It's touching and hilarious, full of wit and warmth. No matter how you felt when you walked into the theater 100 minutes earlier, you feel better at the play's conclusion.
Details: Through March 27, Gompertz Theatre at Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. Show times: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $25-$39. Information: 941-366-9000, floridastudiotheatre.org Tickets: $25-$39.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Theater review | Shanley play sparkles at FST in Sarasota ."