Playboy of the Western World

Pegasus Theatre, to 30thMarch 2002

Written almost 100 years ago, when The Playboy of the Western World was first performed in Dublin, the audience booed and hissed and riots broke out. Watching it in 2002 hardly provokes the same reaction, yet it remains the same rebellious unsentimental tragi-comedy rich in symbolism.

From the beginning director, George Peck draws the audience into rural 1950s Ireland through a detailed stage set and the evocative haunting melodies created by the 'spirits of Ireland'.

Christy Mahon, persecuted beyond endurance by his elderly father over a repugnant marriage, hits his father a blow to the head and flees. As the play begins he has been walking for 11 days then finally he tramps into the pub owned by Michael James and begs a glass of porter. Upon seeing this unsightly, weather-beaten character, the occupants of the pub, who include Michael James' fine looking daughter Pegeen Mike, coax his story out of him. To Christy's amazement, instead of chastising him, they honour and applaud his daring deed. Michael James hires him on the spot to look after the tavern and keep his daughter safe while he goes to a wake. Pegeen Mike instantly falls for Christy's playboy charms and sends her snivelling, god-fearing fiancé, Shawn Keogh, packing.

Pegeen Mike isn't the only one to be taken in by the elusive Christy. When the quivering Shawn sends the man-hungry Widow Quin to break up any possible union, a feisty battle of female wills erupts between the two. Lydia Smart firmly embodies the relentless Widow Quin who makes no secret of her desire for the elusive stranger and her wish to bed him.
Word of Christy's arrival quickly spreads and the following day a gaggle of girls from the village, torn between curiosity and fear, descend upon the bar to find the man who killed his father. Christy now getting quite used to his new found fame confirms his identity and the girls promptly shower their messiah with presents. Victoria Purtill as Sara Tansey superbly leads the "groupies" in their adoration of their saviour from all things ordinary.

The unlikely hero, is essentially a blank canvas upon which the townspeople project their yearnings for adventure and a life less ordinary. Christy, played by Ben Qureshi, develops through a broad spectrum of physical and emotional characteristics. From the downtrodden fearful sight that appears at the tavern door to the popular handsome champion of the village fair, Qureshi handles Christy's transformation with ease and style.

The arrival of Christy's supposedly dead father, reduces Christy's ever-rising popularity to ashes and the town and Pegeen Mike turn on him.
James Savin plays the brutal Old Mahon with vigour and father and son engage in a fierce fight, in which Christy actually attempts the murder that allowed him his hero status. Seeing the deed before them illustrates for them that, as Pegeen Mike puts it, "there is a great gap between a gallous story and a dirty deed" and thereby proceed to try to hang him.

This is a story, as Synge put it, "with strong women, weak men and the need to have violence and poetry cheek by jowl". Although a few faltering Irish accents and colloquialisms seep in, The Oxford School of Drama give a convincing and enjoyable reproduction of Synge's classic.

Sheelagh Doyle 26/03/02