Wednesday, March 11, 2009

New Theater Corps Review

New Theater Corps Review

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
FRIGID Theater Festival: The Giant’s Causeways
Reviewed by Amanda Halkiotis

A potato gun, a bottle of Jameson, and an opening-scene rendition of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” would in lesser hands be a formula for disaster on any stage, inviting ethnocentric overkill and exaggerated nostalgia for one’s homeland. Lucky for Nora Sun McLaughlin (and her audience), her new play The Giant’s Causeways is excellently balanced. Bringing together politics, humor, history and brotherhood, McLaughlin wraps these themes tightly around each other to create an earnest and straightforward framework for her characters. This works exceptionally well considering the turbulent backdrop of Belfast circa 1969-1971. Good for a laugh, working-class, and Catholic, Conall (Thomas Hodgskin) is determined “no matter what happens” not to let current events divide him and his best friend who just happens to be Protestant, the practical, buttoned-up Seamus (James Fauvell). As blood gets shed and family members murdered, this innocent pact becomes harder to uphold than either expected. Things get heated and personal once the British Army starts entering the city limits, and suddenly all bets are off. These two boys, who once only ever argued over their conflicting taste in famous actresses, now begin attacking each other on every standpoint. Conall’s suggestion to go away on holiday together sparks suspicion of anarchist political affiliations from Seamus, who chides Conall that “the IRA stands for I Ran Away.” Meanwhile Seamus, with a widowed mother and several younger sisters on his hands, feels forced to join the Loyalist army, the United Volunteer Force, against Conall’s concerned pleading. Inspired by an anecdote she once heard her father tell about a return trip home he took during “the Troubles”, McLaughlin pulls her weight as a true Irish storyteller whose narrative style of vivid imagery and upbeat humor makes this play feel more like fluid prose at times. A jarring history lesson as much as an account of the tender loss of innocence, Giant’s Causeways is the marking of great theater: it invites you into a world you may not have experienced otherwise, and changes the way you once may have viewed it.
Posted by Amanda Halkiotis at 3/11/2009 12:03:00 AM

Thursday, March 5, 2009

NY Theatre Review

NY Theatre Review

The Giant's Causeways

reviewed by Ivanna Cullinan

Mar 1, 2009

Set in a Belfast torn by sectarian violence, The Giant's Causeways is a fine production of a promising young writer's work. Nora Sun McLaughlin tells the story of a friendship destroyed by Catholic and Protestant aggression with energy, integrity, and a compelling humanity. Conall and Seamus are friends from boyhood, and the bonds of that friendship are severely tested by the rising violence in Belfast during the late 1960s. They begin as lads out on a lark that conveys the core of each one's character immediately. As events move faster than they can finish growing up, and bombs are thrown, family and friends die; both are forced to respond to their world in their own way.

This tightly written two-hander is clearly staged by Jill Harrison and acted with deep commitment by James Fauvell (who finds the humanity in what could be a thankless, slightly limited and cold part) and Thomas Hodgskin (whose engaging charm makes it all the harder to question his choices). The scenes and quotations are woven together with great specificity and skill, making what is overall a concise and effective piece. Although the physical transitions could be both simpler and a bit tighter, this group has the well-delivered talent to keep the audience engaged throughout and make me forgive the leprechaun. Yes, there is an unseen leprechaun in a significant early portion of the story and he contributes nothing at all to the overall piece. It is the one supernatural element in an otherwise straightforward narrative, but the production is interesting enough that it almost does not matter.

The Giant's Causeways is a production of great merit and well worth seeing.

Written/created by: Nora S. McLaughlin
Directed by Jill Harrison