Dead-On Authenticity Enlivens ‘Playboy’

Long before Clint Eastwood’s wandering gunslinger became a matinee idol, a professed father killer was setting the hearts of Irish country lasses aflutter in John Millington Synge’s 1907 comedy, “The Playboy of the Western World.”

Honoring the fact that so much of the play’s charm and humor lie in the near-musical cadences and quirks of its turn-of-the-century rural dialect, director Marilyn Fox makes sure that absolute authenticity is the watchword in her sparkling revival for Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble.

It’s a choice that risks some compromise in clarity. Yet in the midst of even the most obscure colloquialisms, each of her 12-member cast proves adept with exactly the right gestures, posture and emphasis to illuminate meaning without artifice.

This apparent naturalism belies the painstaking craft involved, particularly in the principal performances by Gregory Vignolle as the title character (whose timid personality is transformed by the heroic stature accorded his crime by the locals), Reamy Hall as his newfound love, and Alley Mills as the savvy, bawdy widow who becomes his ally.

Ironic paternal figures are deftly supplied by Orson Bean as a reluctant father-in-law and Robert Evan Collins as the playboy’s abusive and far-from-dead sire. Except for the closing moments, where Hall overshoots the mark trying to inject a note of startling sobriety, these characters are thoroughly convincing.

But the production offers more than a talented ensemble parading impeccable period characterizations. From the initial mood set by violinist Eric Gensen playing folk tunes outside the theater to Deena Lynn Mullen’s intricately detailed rustic set and the lived-in grubbiness of Audrey Eisner’s costumes, it’s a little bit of time travel masquerading as theater.

* “The Playboy of the Western World,” Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble, 705 1/2 Venice Blvd., Venice. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends April 14. $18. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.