'Playboy' evokes the life, people of rural Ireland

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:41 AM PST ∞

The corporate headquarters of Jazzercise Inc. in Carlsbad is an unlikely place to find an authentic slice of turn-of-the-century Ireland, but you smell the burning peat and hear the bleat of the sheep as soon as you enter the warehouse-size room that's home this month to New Village Arts Theatre's "Playboy of the Western World."

Co-directors Francis Gercke and Kristianne Kurner have taken great pains to re-create the rural life and quirky people of 1907 Ireland in this vivid production of the Jonathan Millington Synge classic. With its fine cast, highly detailed pub set and evocative sound design, the audience will feel as if they've stepped back in time and skipped across continents to enter the world of the colorful citizens of Ireland's County Mayo.

Like most other so-called Irish comedies, "Playboy of the Western World" is steeped in melancholy. The repressed anger and hopelessness of these hard-drinking, hot-tempered characters pepper every line of witty dialogue in the word-drunk play. There are plenty of laughs in "Playboy," but they're infused with a knowing sadness about these characters' empty lives and poverty.

Synge's rural dialect is so rich, a glossary is included in the program ("loy" means shovel and "peelers" are policemen), and the accents employed by the 12-member cast are spot-on. Getting used to the language takes time, so it's not until the second act when the laughs really begin.

"Playboy" is the story of Christy Mahon, a timid young loser who stumbles into a rural pub and confesses that he has slain his father with a shovel. The pub's spirited mistress, Pegeen Mike ---- unhappily engaged to the cowardly rube Shawn Keogh ---- is instantly smitten with Christy's "savagery and fine words." And before long, so are all of the town's young women, including the scheming, flirtatious Widow Quin, who admits, "There's great temptation in a man who'd slay his da'."

Hired on as a "pot boy" (waiter) at the pub, Christy thrives on the lavish attention of the village. He repeatedly boasts about his brave deed (which grows with each telling) and even triumphs in the village mule race. But soon enough, another stranger stumbles into the pub, Christy's not-yet-dead da' Old Mahon, and Christy's efforts to cover up the truth and then face the town's wrath over his lies fill out the rest of this three-act comedy.

There's a brilliant irony in the tale. The townspeople long to act out their own violent fantasies but are cowed by their religious beliefs and society's mores. So they find an unlikely hero in the mysterious storyteller Christy, of whom one character says: "A daring fellow is the jewel of the world." But fantasy and reality collide when Christy tries to redeem himself by attacking his wounded father once again, and the town turns on him with the words: "There's a great gap between a gallant story and a dirty deed."

Joshua Everett Johnson leads the cast as the wistful misfit Christy. Johnson, who's fast becoming one of San Diego's best young actors, physically transforms himself during the course of the play from a stuttering coward into the fierce warrior that had existed before only in his imagination.

Matching him with fierce determination of her own is Jessica John as the desperate, strong-willed Pegeen, who learns during the course of the play that it pays to be careful what you wish for.

Francis Gercke, almost unrecognizable under a floppy hat, a glob of stage blood and a grizzled gray beard as Old Mahon, has a ball as the play's kookiest and most unpredictable character. Kristianne Kurner uses her flashing, narrowed eyes, bold stage presence and quicksilver mood shifts to portray the calculating Widow Quin. And Brandon Walker is delightful and perfectly cast as Pegeen's hapless, devout suitor Shawn, who knows he's been outmatched by the "fearless, clever" Christy.

The play is populated with colorful, oddball townspeople, the most enjoyable being Pegeen's cynical, lighthearted father Michael James Flaherty, played with a jolly abandon by Tim West. Pat Moran and Jack Missett bring Irish flair as pub regulars Jimmy Farrell and Philly Cullen. And rounding out the cast as the village girls who hang on Christy's every word are the wonderful Grace Delaney (who also serves as the cast's dialect coach), and Aurora Rupert, Rachael VanWormer and Monique Fleming.

Besides playing the lead role, Johnson created the mood-enhancing sound design, a mix of upbeat Irish songs and barnyard noises. Kristianne Kurner designed the terrifically detailed pub set, chock-full of period jugs, china, glassware, furniture and farm implements. And Eric Lotze's lighting is a hazy gold that evokes fading sunshine through grimy pub windows. Michelle Hunt created the realistic period costumes.

"The Playboy of the Western World" runs two hours, 20 minutes, including two intermissions, and is suitable for all audiences.

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