by Brian Friel
Directed by Frank Galati
Asolo Repertory Company
Florida State U. Center for the
Performing Arts: Mertz Theatre
5555 N. Tamiami Tr., Sarasota,
FL, 941-351-8000
In revolving repertory Jan. 10
to April 12, 2014
Reviewed by Marie J. Kilker
Seeing a streamlined 90 minute
version ofPhiladelphia, Here I
Come! hailed in a preview feature in
Sarasota's major paper surprised me. Playwright Brian Friel is known for
insisting every word of his plays be honored. Also, two productions of it that
I remember, admittedly from decades ago,were longer. On opening night, my memory led to questioning things
missing (at least one important female character) and things added (mainly
songs and dances). Dismayed, I postponed writing a review until I could do some
research and, above all, get a copy of Friel's script (alas! not in any local
library or bookstore). I also searched for a possible adaptation (which I felt
I'd seen here) in the name of the director, an acclaimed adapter for
performance of such literary works as The Grapes of Wrath, but not plays. Now, noting an American Theatre
Januaryannouncement of a next
issue article on Asolo Rep, featuring Frank Galati's adaptation of
Friel's play, which is what I believe I saw, I'm giving my take on it. It's
part of Asolo's five year study of The American Character in theatrical forms
and expression.So why an
Irishman's play about an Irishman about to emigrate from Ireland? Because he's
going to pursue the American immigrant's dream of a better life.He's also going to leave family behind
so his story fits Asolo's emphasis this season on The American Family.
Eveningand night before 25-year-old Gareth
will depart from his home in back of his father's shop in County Donegal, he's
torn between his hopes and fears. Friel shows these through two actors
inhabiting one character. Private Gar, his lively, eager to leave alter-ego
disparages just about everything about his present situation. Introverted,usually noncommital but secretly
emotional Public Gar suffers anguish while trying to screw his courage to the
breaking point. Together they recreate scenes from the past showing, in particular,
the inability of father and son to communicate and his failure to ask to marry
Kate when her father stated his preference for a richer, older man. As Gar
recalls how he loved Kate, Private Gar diminishes that as unsuitable.It's not clear why Public Gar, though
he rightfully regards housekeeper Madge Mulhern as his surrogate mother, holds
back emotions toward her. (I think Friel originally made clear that she got
better pay than Gar.) As for his real mother, exposition about her and her
husband (not an ideal match but money played a part) andher death at Gar's birth comes largely
in subtext through two vaudeville-like Irish songs and dances. (They're well
choreographed and performed, but like vaudeville acts, more satiric comment
than mood-conveying). When friends come to say good-bye, Public Gar seems to see in
them the lack of a good future for those who stay in Ballybeg. He's egged on by
Private Gar's pushing the American dream. Exemplifying long time lack of
dreamsis Master Boyle, alcoholic teacher
said to have loved Gar's mother. The boy-oes, fresh from a pub and exaggerating
their luck with the lasses, give both Gars a real picture ofstultifying life in the town. (It
didn't seem to extend to the variety of accents by the cast, few of whom
pronounced words, especially place names, as said in the north.)
The most poignant scene
involves tea (where a rosary is said BEFORE eating, as unlikely timing as a
later song that is sung not in a home but in a church or school setting during
a May crowning of a statue of Maryas Queen to be venerated that month). Invited to tea and a table game
afterward, Canon O'Byrne has with S. B. O'Donnell a talk accurately anticipated
and imitated by Private to Public Gar, though the first stands next to the
table while he's seen and heard by the second, who's upstairs in his room and
supposedly separated from himself by a wall.This pretend-wall is in great contrast to the downstairs
kitchen mostly closed from dining room but open in back to the most cluttered imaginable
store shelves. (There's also a huge building projected outside the shop.
Unidentified and not used in the story. Some scenic imagination!)The tea scene most illustrates the
contrasting Gars. Public Gar may be unconnected to his father but he's respectful;
Private Gar makes fun of him, calls him “Screwballs.” Public Gar avoids exchanges with his father; Private Gar makes fun of
his routines (as aforementioned). Public Gar fails in his effort to communicate
and he's upset at the failure; Private Gar is upset at the effort.
With all the past that has led
up to all the problem of the present, why is Gar leaving at this particular
time and for Philadelphia of all places? Friel presented the inciting incident:
Gar's aunt, who emigrated to America but is lonely for family, invited him to
be with her and her husband.Now
they've appeared to take Gar back. It's the drama's inciting incident!But in the adaptation, Aunt's mentioned
but missing.Public Gar's
hesitation to leave is underplayed in favor ofPrivate Gar's inclination to do so, weakening Gar's
conflict.I guess the lessened
time it takes to resolve was a reason for “streamlining” but then why the vaudeville additions? Ironically, one of director
Galati's notable talents is his way with getting actors to interpret well
written language! Friel supplies same, both realistic and poetic. So why
replace the inspired with the uninspired? The excellent Christian Conn as
Public and Bernard Balbot as Private Gar are a split personality with different
cadences and points of view headed toward the same end—not an imitation of Archie Rice offstage and onstage in The
Entertainer. As the uncommunicative S. B.
O'Connell, Douglas Jones communicates wanting to show his love for his son but
unable to do so. He speaks more formally of Gar and his dead, younger wife than
he does to housekeeper Madge Mulhern. Peggy Roeder responds in kindbut with added affection to the son.
Amanda Lynn Mullen is a sorrowful counterpart to Gar as her Kate Doogan obeys
her father but loves neither him nor husband truly. Andrew Sellon impresses in
his brief appearance as dutiful Canon O'Byrne, committed to routine. In a role
different from the many he's done in the Rep, David Breitbarth, who must have
been appealing to Gar's mother, brings out in the teacher Boyle depths not completely
full of drink. Of Gar's pals, Brian Nemiroff stands out as outspoken Ned, who
in fact has the most to say that's not fact. None of theperformances, however, go wrong.The same may be said of costuming and
lighting, though the set is more than necessarily cluttered. The sense of the
period of the play doesn't come through, nor does the kind of “different” place Donegal occupies in Ireland and the lives and
psyche of its citizens. I'm not too sure, either, that the play is the best
illustration of the American Character as shown by an aspiring immigrantor a connection with the American
Family.