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A Dark Comedy From Ireland
by Deidre McFadyen
Communion reviewed January 8, 2005
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| (l-r) Jessica Dickey and James Kennedy |
| Photo Credit:Stephen Lovekin |
| A play about a young man dying of a fatal illness runs the risk of turning mawkish. But Irish playwright Aidan Mathews engages the subject of illness and dying with a refreshing candor and lack of sentiment in Communion, a dark and cerebral comedy of manners that is receiving its American premiere at the Origin Theatre Company.
Jordan, whose medical studies were cut short by a brain tumor, has returned to his boyhood home in an upscale Dublin suburb. Lying in a hospital cot in his bedroom, sweet-tempered Jordan is cared for and entertained by his brittle mother, his troubled younger brother Marcus, Marcus’s girlfriend Felicity, a neighbor, and a priest.
Communion, ably directed by M. Burke Walker, is the kind of work that is fun to pick apart afterward, with its latent symmetries and ironies as well as its musings on faith and God. But there are enough comic and heart-pricking scenes to save the play from feeling like a philosophy lesson.
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| (l-r) Barbara Sims and John Seidman |
| Photo Credit:Stephen Lovekin |
| The title refers not just to the sacrament that Father Anthony performs at Jordan’s bedside, but also to the quest for human connection, with Jordan as a sort of Christ figure nudging everyone toward that goal.
Unfortunately, the play’s principal conflict is also its most unconvincing element. While both his brother and mother adore Jordan, they loathe each other. Marcus, who wields his verbal acuity like a sword, scorns his mother’s false piety and social striving, while the mother feels contempt for her son’s manic depression, viewing his suicide attempt and time in mental institutions as an outgrowth of narcissism.
Near the end of the first act, the mother unleashes a vitriolic attack against Marcus that seems to come out of the blue. Jordan predicts that the two will make peace “over my dead body.” The slender plot of this 2 1/2-hour play concerns when and how.
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| (l-r) John Seidman and Jessica Dickey |
| Photo Credit:Stephen Lovekin |
| The acting is satisfactory, though not brilliant. As Jordan, Ean Sheehy nicely balances courage and vulnerability. J. Kennedy nails Marcus’s brilliant prickliness, but doesn’t reach the depths of emotion demanded of him. He also seems too old for the part. Both Sheehy and Kennedy have difficulty sustaining their Irish accents. Resisting easy caricature, Barbara Sims brings out the subtle undertones of the mother’s personality. Jessica Dickey makes for a spunky Felicity, and Colin Lane is delightful as the down-to-earth priest seeking to replenish his own tattered faith through Jordan.
Set designer Michael V. Moore, lighting designer Juliet Chia, and costume designer Michelle R. Phillips collaborate to create a resonant sense of place and mood. But sound designer Zachary Williamson fumbles with sound effects that don’t consistently project from the right location or at the right volume. At several points, for instance, I wasn’t sure if I was hearing sound spilling from an adjoining theater.
But whatever its flaws, Communion is obviously the work of a talented and ambitious playwright. With this production, the Origin Theatre Company has served its mission of introducing new and emerging European playwrights to an American audience.
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Phil Bosakowski Theatre
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Category: Drama
Written by: Aidan Mathews
Directed by: M. Burke Walker
Produced by: Origin Theatre Company
Opened: January 6, 2005
Closed: January 23, 2005
Running Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Theater: Phil Bosakowski Theatre
Address: 354 W. 45th St
New York, NY 10036
Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $15.00
none available
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Creative Team
Written by: Aidan Mathews
Directed by: M. Burke Walker
Produced by: Origin Theatre Company
Light Designer: Juliet Chia
Sound Designer: Zachary Williamson
Set Designer: Michael V. Moore
Costume Designer: Michelle R. Phillips
Assistant Director: Talya Klein
Producer/Artistic Director: George C. Heslin
Cast
Ean Sheehy as Jordan McHenry
J. Kennedy as Marcus McHenry
Barbara Sims as Martha McHenry
John Seidman as Arthur McLoughlin
Colin Lane as Father Anthony O'Driscoll
Jessica Dickey as Felicity Spellman
Crew
Production Stage Manager: Pamela Salling
Producer's Assistant: Laurence Lowry
Casting Consultant: Stephanie Klapper
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