THEATER REVIEW : Irvine’s ‘Playboy’ Gets Its Irish Lost

When John Millington Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World” opened in Dublin in the early part of this century, there were riots. It was politically incorrect. Its subjects were what were then known as “stage Irish,” besotted ne’er-do-wells with a rollicking sense of humor, an inflated pride in their depravity and a tricky glint in their eye.

The play is still politically incorrect, and that is exactly Synge’s point, and his joke: Tell the truth and bedamned to the divvil. The point is mostly missed in director Lee Clark’s staging at the Irvine Community Theater. Clark sees the habitues of Michael James Flaherty’s “shebeen” (or grungy local pub) as nice people, and the joke is up.

The limited production capabilities aren’t the problem. The group has done better productions with less dressing. Clark even has three actors who are almost on to the humor and style of Synge’s writing, and they certainly get their laughs.

Two of them are central to the action. Sarah Lang is Michael James’ daughter, Pegeen Mike, and she’s right on target throughout: feisty, verging on crude, volatile and desperate for a strong man to sweep her away. She knows the trick of Irish comedy and revels in it.

As the titular hero, or at least he begins to think himself as such, Jared Slater is a charmer of a Christy Mahon, the lad who thinks he’s murdered his da and accepts the glory for the act from the locals, including Pegeen.

*

Synge is probably still chuckling in his casket over this portrait of the Irish love of a good yarn, and Christy’s is a good one. The only thing missing from Slater’s performance is that sense of self-aggrandizement.

It’s not until halfway through the action that he seems to realize that Christy is a cluck who lucked out, a blarney-born spinner of his own fame. When the gag dawns on Slater, he’s excellent.

The third actor is Kevin O’Loane as Shawn Keogh, Pegeen’s jellyfish of a suitor. O’Loane capers about his true love like a loony spaniel, and his performance has the right flavor and tone.

The rest of the cast members are at a complete loss. Jim Holway and Floyd G. Phillips, as Michael James’ two drunken friends, appear to be a couple of blue-collar workers from Long Beach, with accents to match, and Tracy Godfrey as Michael James, Pegeen’s disreputable rum-pot of a father, looks more like the president of the local country club.

The youngsters who play the local girls seem better suited to “Anne of Green Gables,” and Arthur Wilson as Christy’s animalistic, illiterate father acts and sounds as though he’s playing King Lear.

*

Robin J. Hand is a better actress than she appears in the role of the Widow Quinn, a randy, aggressive type set on getting gullible, pretty Christy’s trousers off, and who turns conniving when she’s foiled. Hand tries hard, straddling chairs and waving a riding crop, but in her effort to make the Widow likable, the effect is more like Doris Day playing Lady Macbeth.

* “The Playboy of the Western World,” Irvine Community Theater, 1 Sunnyhill Turtle Rock Community Park, Irvine. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends March 5. $6-$8. (714) 857-5496. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes. Jared Slater: Christy Mahon

Sarah Lang: Pegeen Mike

Robin J. Hand: Widow Quinn

Tracy Godfrey: Michael James

Kevin O’Loane: Shawn Keogh

Arthur Winslow: Old Mahon

Jim Holway: Jimmy Farrell

Floyd G. Phillips: Philly Cullen

An Irvine Community Theater production of John Millington Synge’s comedy. Directed by Lee Clark. Stage manager: Joann Urban.