Éanna Hardwicke as Christy Mahon and Siobhán McSweeney as Widow Quin [Marc Brenner]
THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD
Lyttelton, National Theatre
3 stars
When The Playboy of the Western World premiered at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in 1907, John Millington Synge’s unflattering portrait of rural western Ireland provoked riots.
A stranger, Christy Mahon (Éanna Hardwicke), arrives at Flaherty’s tavern in County Mayo claiming he has murdered his father. Flaherty (Lorcan Cranitch) praises him for his bravery and, rather than condemning him, the local community transforms Christy into the eponymous hero.
Flaherty’s daughter, the spirited barmaid Pegeen (Nicola Coughlan), falls for him. So too does Widow Quin (Siobhán McSweeney, excellent), encouraged by Pegeen’s spurned suitor, Shawn Keogh (Marty Rea). Christy is soon winning others’ hearts after he triumphs in the donkey race. When Old Mahon (Declan Conlon) appears and the villagers realise the story they embraced so readily isn’t true, they turn on Christy, incensed that a vagrant could have duped them so thoroughly.
Éanna Hardwicke as Christy Mahon and Nicola Coughlan as Pegeen Mike [Marc Brenner]
The Abbey’s current artistic director, Caitríona McLaughlin, delivers an evocative production with live musicians, mummers in straw headdresses and female mourners draped in black. Synge’s lyrical language is occasionally lost in the Lyttelton’s cavernous space, cleverly designed by Katie Davenport to resemble a barn.
For the first half hour, the conversations meander and the dialogue, what one can hear of it, feels dramatically unfocused. One is left wondering why these hardened, rural folk would embrace Christy, played by Hardwicke with wide-eyed simplicity, so readily. But that, of course, is Synge’s point: here, violence is something to respect.
The second half is darkly comic, clearer in its storytelling and easier to enjoy as the actors settle into their roles. It’s beautifully staged by McLaughlin, but the play feels dated, lacking the resonance and bite it needs to land with a contemporary audience.
Until February 28
nationaltheatre.org.uk
