By Eva Phillips
The tides of change are cruel in the sleepy town of Mullingar. Anthony and Rosemary neighbors nestled in the bucolic Irish farmlands, have worked tirelessly to keep their farms and parents going as long as they can remember. Friends, romantic interests, opportunities, and, of course, time, have heedlessly slipped away from Anthony and Rosemary. Now, the families they each clung to so tenaciously and stubbornly (for various unhealthy reasons), are disintegrating before their very eyes, with Rosemary’s father passing away and Anthony’s prickly father, Tony, is openly embracing that he is in failing health and likely about to die. With foreseeably nothing left for them, Rosemary and Anthony must stare down the idea that there might be a life for them that is separate from Mullingar, separate from their slavish dependency on the farms and their families.
This predicament and the consequences of change and loss are at the core of Apple Hill Playhouse’s latest production, Outside Mullingar. Saving their strongest, most emotionally impactful shows for the denouement of their successful season, this penultimate production accomplishes a tremendous amount with a small (but mighty) cast and a minimalist set. Director Katya R. Shaffer demonstrates an expert degree of sensitivity and thoroughness in this adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s original script. A story that is fraught with the folkish culture and tendencies of rural Ireland–as well as being steeped in farming land feuds–could easily be read as fey or unrelatable. However, Shaffer prevails in presenting an elegantly sculpted, well-paced play that is deeply moving for all audiences.
The small cast is brimming with charm and efficacious emotivity necessary for such a show. As the sensitive, diligent Anthony–who has spent most of his life obsessively tending to his father and the farm to distract from the heartbreak he endured in his late teens/early 20s–T.C. Brown is plucky and endearing. His portrayal of Anthony never veers into the realm of pitiful, a testament to Brown’s spiritedness and commitment as actor. Likewise, Jen Kwiatek’s Rosemary is tender and passionately defiant at all the right moments. Kwiatek is a driving force of the show, and her command of her character and effortlessness on stage is a pleasure to watch. The evolution in the relationship between Rosemary and Anthony that has spanned a lifetime is played with subtle, touching nuance by Kwiatek and Brown, and elevates the story to the lovely, yet complex, experience that it is. Complementing them ably are Angela Thompson as Rosemary’s mother Aoife, and Apple-Hill legend Chip Kerr. Both Thompson and Kerr imbue the familiar, parent-embittered-child dynamic, but in refreshing and heartening new ways.
Replete with a gorgeously simple and inviting set design, Outside Mullingar is a play that strikes raw nerves of family sentimentality, relational discord, anxiety about self-fulfillment, and fear of loss of those we love–all while managing to be hilarious at just the right moments. It is one of Apple Hill Playhouse’s finest showings of the season.
For tickets and more information about Outside Mullingar, visit Apple Hill Playhouse’s site.
Categories: Archived Reviews