Andrew Gillies (1996 Playboy of the Western World)
Excerpt from The Stage Door 1996: Andrew Gillies
The Playboy of the Western World - a hot item at NOTL
J.M. Synge deliberately chose the title, The Playboy of the Western World, for its ambiguity, for a "playboy" may be an athlete or seducer, and the "western world" may refer to western Ireland, the United States, or the western hemisphere. This ground-breaking play caused an outrage when it debuted in Dublin in 1907. Most other productions of the period were light-hearted musical romps and melodramas with sentimental scripts. The Playboy portrayed the desperate poverty of Ireland’s western islands in a painfully realistic fashion, to the shock and disgust of middle-class and gentrified audiences, not only in Dublin, but in London and Irish-populated Boston and New York. The only reaction to the outstanding 1996 Shaw Festival production is the audience’s riotous applause at the play’s conclusion.
-----Young Christy Mahon arrives at a remote pub in the west of Ireland. Scared out of his wits, Christy explains that he’s killed his father. Instead of being reviled as a murderer, he finds himself lionized as a folk-hero and immediately propositioned by two village women, until his father turns up, much more alive than dead. Comic scenes contrasting with dramatic overtones result in a richly moving play.
-----The creative team is headed by director Jim Mezon, veteran Shaw actor and creative talent. The superbly realistic set was designed by the inimitable Cameron Porteous, with the subdued, moody lighting designed by Elizabeth Asselstine, together re-creating the sadly dull world of a turn-of-the-century rural Irish pub. The lighting is particularly effective in two scenes: the opening act is lit by a single blue spot, evoking a cheerless candlelit interior, while a last burst of brilliant light immediately before the final fade symbolizes Christy’s earlier summation of his star-like appeal. Set in the Court House Theatre, the audience feels intimately involved in the action. Indeed, front-row patrons are inches from the actors in several scenes.
-----Typical of Shaw Festival productions, the acting ensemble is marvelous. Oliver Becker is commendable in the title role, although his command of the difficult accent, especially in comparison with the balance of the cast, appears somewhat less than totally believable. Kelli Fox, fresh from a Jessie Award in the shattering Keeley and Du (Canadian Stage, 1996), is superb, true to the role, in a standout performance as Pegeen Mike, mistress of the pub pursued by two suitors, Christy and Shawn. Shawn, the milquetoast and spurned suitor, is played by Gordon Rand, wonderfully acted and with a flawless Irish accent.
-----In supporting roles are William Webster as Pegeen’s drunken father; Peter Hutt as Philly O’Cullen, ingratiating and funny, especially in the scene where he performs a drunken backward fall almost into the audience; Andrew Gillies as Jimmy Farrell, a very well acted, subdued role in marked contrast to the erudite General Burgoyne he played in The Devil’s Disciple; Sarah Orenstein as temptress Widow Quin, somewhat younger and more likable than perhaps Synge had in mind; and Richard Farrell as Old Mahon, the belligerent father who wouldn’t stay dead.
-----The Playboy of the Western World plays at Niagara-on-the-Lake until September 28. For tickets, call 1-800-511-SHAW.
© The Stage Door