A Rage of Silence
This drama is written by Owen McCafferty and directed by
Gemma Whelan. It is playing at the New
Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont St. (street parking only), through May 6th. For more information, go to their site www.corribtheatre.org
This seems like a familiar story throughout history and one
that will continue ad nauisum, I’m afraid.
I wrote a piece on this subject of violence recently for a review and I
believe it bears repeating, as circumstances are eerily familiar:
“Genocide has probably been around on this Earth, in one
form or another, to wipe out and/or demean a race of people, since the
beginning of Man. Hitler and his boys
were prime examples of that during the last century but they have had lots of
imitators before and since then, e.g. the Crusades; our treatment of Native
Americans and African-Americans; and continuous examples in the Middle-East,
Africa, South America and Asia. And the
results of many of these efforts—cities reduced to rubble, death of many
thousands of innocents, and resentment of other nations, as well as
history. What a prize! As the folk song goes, “…when will they ever
learn…?”
And now we have the rift between Catholics and Protestants
in Northern Ireland. The land of lore,
of fairy creatures and leprechauns, seems to have dissolved “…into thin
air.” And what will continue is a game
of one-upmanship in which there are no victors.
But, if we can’t have a definitive answer, then perhaps, taking one step
at a time toward each other, quietly, on a small scale, will bring a harmony of
sorts.
And so, we have a meeting of opposing sides in a pub in
Ireland in 2009. One man, Jimmy (Ted
Rooney), has come to his favorite pub in Belfast for a pint…or three. The bar is run by an immigrant from Poland,
Robert (Murri Lazaroff-Babin), which has its own set of conflicts, and which,
he thought, he had escaped by coming here.
Interestingly, they are watching a football match on TV, between two
countries in which a definitive victor will emerge…were it all that simple in
the political/religious/social arena.
Jimmy is waiting to meet someone, Ian (Tim Blough), from the
opposing side, here and relive a painful memory of in their pasts of about 25
years earlier. Will it heal old wounds? Will a peace be accomplished? We’ll see.
But a catharsis of sorts,
possibly a redemption, might happen, but only if truth can be ousted and fists lulled
into a coma. Only when the infantile
behaviors, such as sword-rattling and name-calling (which seems popular now
with world leaders) is quelled, can there even be a beginning to a lasting
peace. Can’t tell you more or else I’d
be a spoiler.
All three of the performers are very powerful. The quiet rage of Blough is palpable; the
uneasiness of Lazaroff-Babin is quite evident; and the inward pain of Jimmy’s
anguish speaks volumes. Pain and hatred
of these sorts are buried deep in one’s psyche and not easily rooted out. But, unless people choose to live in fear
their whole lives, someone has to start somewhere to heal the scars, to bridge
the great divide. Both the author and
director seem to understand the subject, if not able to solve it, at least
address it, which is a step in the right direction.
I recommend this play.
If you do choose to see it, please tell them Dennis sent you.
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