Friel is one of the two most important living Irish dramatists, and the play is a family drama of fallen aristocracy, similar to The Cherry Orchard. I did some research, and yes, Friel admires Chekhov--let’s just say "emulates" him a century later. That’s okay--I can’t get enough of this theme of fallen aristocracy! This is the essence of comedy: upper classes falling, lower classes rising, big clash in the middle with lots of noise on stage. Bam! goes the furniture, and that is catharsis! Fine Irish actors would have fun with this one, especially showing it off to an American audience.

We drove to E. Carson Street, turned left onto 13th, and found parking on the street. On the corner of Bingham, two theaters are adjoined: The Lester Hamburg Studio Theater, performing Shakespeare that night, and City Theatre Mainstage at the main entrance. Up a staircase to the second floor, we found our great seats. The proscenium stage was set as a courtyard in front of an Irish mansion home (in Ballybeg, County Donegal) with open windows and a human piano player inside.

The ineffectual O’Donnell family, with hardly any grasp on reality, was artfully played by a cast of Irish and local actors with seemingly unaffected gestures and voices for exasperation, resentment, foolishness, senility, and all the other silly emotions and cognitive shortcomings inhabiting the stage. Plenty of noise assured me this was comedy and that the actors relished the opportunity. The cast had a great time, and so did we. It wasn’t the Abbey Theater, but close enough. We wanted to see PICT’s next Brian Friel production of Faith Healer at the Towngate Theatre in Wheeling, but went to the Bahamas instead. In the Caribbean, we lamented missing the play, proof of the compelling dimension of theater! PICT may return soon from their tour of Ireland; I’ll look for the 2003 schedule at their website: www.picttheatre.org