Fortnight Publications Ltd.

It's Figaro Who CountsAuthor(s): Judith JenningsSource: Fortnight, No. 282 (Mar., 1990), p. 30Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25552320 .

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ANGELA WILCOX says the Abbey's O'Casey makes Belfast theatre look better; JUDITH JORDAN reports on Charabanc's local effort.

Stage-Irish THE COMPARATIVE merits of O'Casey's three Dublin plays are much disputed?not least in bars?but it is usually acknowledged that all three do have merit. Had the play

wright's reputation rested on last month's

Abbey production of Shadow of a Gunman at

the Opera House in Belfast, however, anyone

unacquainted with O'Casey's work could have

been forgiven for doubting it.

In place of genuine theatre we had a

parade of hackneyed 'characters' and 'jokes'. No sense of the action's context was estab

lished: gunfire off (and what a rotten

soundtrack!) was invariably used to raise a

laugh at the characters' expense. No attempt was made to stage, still less explore, relation

ships between characters?to suggest how the

self-important Davoren comes to be sponging off Shiels in the first place, to examine the

discomforts and tensions of the overcrowded

tenement or even to suggest its noisiness con

vincingly. Far too often one character was

simply left to watch another perform their turn,

and the audience was constantly encouraged to

easy laughter at drunkenness (of course),

domestic violence and cruelty. At the heart of O'Casey's tragicomedy is

an exploration of the power, necessity and

dangers of all kinds of illusions?personal or

domestic as well as political. The play's method

is comic, but its perceptions are savage. It could

have gained additional force in Belfast. This

production reduced it to the edge of farce.

Had this been presented by an English

company in London it would have been exe

crated for its patronising stage-Irishry. As it is,

the question of why the Abbey should want to

get away with a production cheaper and more

sentimental than a pint of green beer in the

Bronx on St Patrick's Day is almost the only

thing about it to stimulate the imagination. If

this is the best the Abbey can do with an Irish

classic, we're not doing so badly for theatre in

Belfast after all. #

Wise woman?Ruth Jones plays the countess

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Tit's Figaro who counts

The director Dominic Cooke made the costumed cast of The Marriage of Figaro stand still in a Belfast shop window for one and a half hours last month?while he extolled the merits of Beaumarchais' controversial play, which incensed Louis XVI, inspired

Mozart and perhaps instigated the French revolution, Judith Jennings writes. How could a comic farce have such repercussions? Humour is a powerful

weapon, as the Pan Optic Theatre Company proved with its production in the Arts. Chris Burden's arrogant count, foiled in pursuit of extramarital sex, driven to 'John

Cleese' excesses of frustration, ridiculed the aristocracy, whilst Tony Marshall's

ebullient, wily Figaro highlighted proletarian intelligence. Female sagacity, in different forms, was subtly portrayed by Suzanne (Janet

Hughes), the countess (Ruth Jones) and Marceline (Susan Pendlebury). Comic relief came from the multi-talented Michael Palmer?gardener, doctor and music teacher.

Elaborate costumes, initially perfect, were ripped, waxed and cobwebbed to enhance the theme of decaying elegance and the frenetic 'scene changing' music heralded the turbulance of a new era.

Home truths WHO CARES for the carers? is the question at

the heart of Charabanc's latest production, The

Hamster Wheel.

The play explores the traumatic effect on a

middle-aged working woman (Carol Scanlan)

when her husband (Martin Murphy) is disabled

by a stroke. She undertakes to care for her

"temporarily out of action" spouse and the play

highlights the plight of the estimated 150,000 carers in Northern Ireland?mostly women,

often unsupported. The writer, Marie Jones, raises many perti

nent questions about the nature and limitations

of love, duty and responsibility. The couple's

daughter (Zara Turner) is forced to choose

between her aspirations and her allegiance to

her parents?a decision which in turn has a

disruptive effect on the in-laws, (Eleanor

Methven and Lalor Roddy) who find them

selves on opposing sides on the moral issues

which arise.

Skilfully directed by Robert Scanlan, the

Charabanc team infuse their usual quota of wit,

wisdom and realism into a well-balanced pro duction. The result is a courageous, compas

sionate, thought-provoking and, almost against the odds, entertaining play.

30 March Fortnight

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