Stage cap from Sebastian Barry's 'White Woman Street' at the Irish Repetory Theatre
by Sam Juliano
Irish playwright Sebastian Barry has a gift for language. But in his “western” White Woman Street, which is presently winding down it’s run at the Irish Repetory Theatre, this propensity makes for a bizarre marriage of poetry and monologues. The result is an overload of talk, with incoherent sentences and long passages that are ill-fitted to the stage. Granted, the production’s director Charlotte Moore is more concerned with impressionistic notions, and a meditation on myths and memories, than any kind of historical documentation, and in that sense the show hits it’s mark, even in the narratively lugubrious first half. But this is basically what Barry’s theatre is all about, and his detractors have long maintained that his poetic style is ill-suited to the theatrical form. Theatre goers with a taste beyond standard dialogue, however, are in for a treat.
Had Barry been truly interested in a revisionist western, he might have opted to set White Woman Street in a period and place more archetypal than 1916 Ohio, especially with the employment of dialogue that addresses issues like Indian oppression and cultural displacement. Coincidentally, the rock musical, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, written by Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman, still running at the Public Theatre, deals with the same issues, and even with distinct satirical underpinnings, there’s a stronger resonance. Barry’s intent is clearly symbolic, as it’s clear enough that his early 20th Century Buckeye state setting is meant to mirror the Easter Uprising in Ireland, and aging Trooper O’Hara’s dream of returning home. In fact, by shifting his focus to America, Barry employs symbols that establish the same type of need to reconnect with the past and establish domestic stability. But it’s difficult to negotiate the disjointed progression, story incoherence, and loquatiousness of the characters. And the thick Irish brogues don’t quite match up with the actors, recalling Puccini’s opera La Fanciulla del West, where cowboys spoke in Italian.
The characters themselves are ethnically diverse: Blakely is English, Mo Mason is Amish, Nathaniel Yeshow is half-Russian and half-Chinese, and James Miranda is black. They are restless souls, each with their own story, and each with a personal mission. The vaneer is all in place, with the saloons, whiskey peddlers and train robbers all part of the work’s fabric, but the interation and long-winded monologues grow tiresome before the one-quarter point.
When Barry is in his element, which he is most of the time, he’s produced some extraordinary work. His drama Our Lady of Sligo, staged last year, gave the company one of its greatest productions, and his celebrated The Steward of Christendom has enjoyed success worldwide with a slew of stagings. It’s the playwright’s most popular work. But as a renowned novelist and poet, it may not always be an easy task to modulate his work to the theatre, and it’s clear that White Woman Street suffers from a lack of engagement from the outset due to this artistic incompatability.
Charlotte Moore, the enterprising artistic director of the company, serves this production well with some economical sets, including the employment of five tall wooden stools as horses, unvarnished wooden planks, and a convincing saloon, with the long bar. The lighting is particularly eye-catching, especially the use of the yellow moon (employed on the poster adds) and the precise work on the train scene. The sound effects may be standard, but the timing is dead-on, and the costumes contibute to a generally impressive visual design.
The company’s acting is rarely ineffectual, and the three central actors here (Stephen Payne, Greg Mullavey and Gordon Stanley as O’Hara, Blakely and Mo Mason respectively) manage some flavorful histrionics to mitigate the overwrite. All in all White Woman Street sends mixed signals.
It’s a polished production by impassioned professionals, written by a world-class playwright, but because of the lack of writing chemistry, it seems remote and oddly distancing.
Note: I saw ‘White Woman Street’ with Lucille on Wednesday evening, June 9th at the Irish Repetory Theatre in lower Manhattan.. The show ran 95 minutes without intermission. We ate at a local Thai Restaurant during a rainy evening.
Superb review and your complaints are understandable, as his lengthy monologues can be quite demanding. The only thing that I would add to this is that it was a play written at an earlier stage of his career than the works that you rightly reference above as being examples of his best output.
For me, Sebastian Barry writes to be savoured at length. Admittedly, it helps to have read his plays several times over before going to see them. However, I love getting to hear the lyricism of his words spoken aloud by great actors. Negative criticism of whether his writing is too poetic for the stage, in that sense, be damned!
Having you comment here under this particular review Longman is the highest honor for me, as your status as the resident expert of Irish theatre is uncontestable. I really have no doubt that Barry would be my cup of tea, as his qualities are truly what I appreciate most on the stage. This just may be a single instance (and you are right to point out that it’s one of his earliest works-his third of fourth in fact of about a dozen) where the chemistry couldn’t be realized. Hence, this experience has not alienated me, but has me hoping for more from him, and a NYC staging of THE STEWARD would be a godsend.
But the wisest advice you have given is the suggestion that the plays be read in their entirety BEFORE attending the production. Thanks so much Longman, for your interest in my reaction to WHITE WOMAN STREET. It’s what goaded me on to write this modest assessment.
I don’t know Barry’s work, but I just googled ‘em. It’s interesting that you point out the difference between this work and the Puccini opera (which I do know well thanks to you) and the ways the Western setting is used almost as a diversion. In both, the poetry and soaring lyricism are what count. This is a terrific, honest appraisal.
Ha Frank! What you say is true, but it’s a different kind of mismatch. Puccini’s settings (and dialogue aside from his soaring melodies) were unimportant, whereas Barry’s poetry is still integral to his overarching vision. Thanks so much for the kind words.
If, for nothing else, the setting is enough to raise my eye-brow. I could see the parallels between this play and Puccini’s LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST coming as the similarities are there. This is a terrific little review, well written and, considering the author, inspired. I enjoyed the read.
Thanks Dennis. Strangely, this curious work has inspired me to do some further research on Mr. Barry.
Those “horses” are a hoot. Hopefully, the running time wasn’t prohibitive.
Thanks Fred! Actually, it was a short piece, only 95 minutes without intermission.
I really enjoyed reading this exceptional review Sam, even if I never see this play. I think the problem may have to do with it being a western and having little action. People are spoiled by the expected conventions, and poetry isn’t a match for the material.
Thanks Maria! Yeah, it’s the conventional notion of the western that made this an uneasy sit.
An excellent review, with so much great observations. The Irish Repetory Theatre sounds like a place I’d like to visit, when the choice is appealing. I think they did an O’Neill play there recently. I would imagine the monologues would be a problem, the way you size them up.
Aye, Peter, they did THE EMPEROR JONES, which in large measure was an excellent production! I never got around to a review of that, unfortunately. Thanks so much for the kind words.
Nice review and sounds like a play worthy of seeing.
Topping it off with some Thai sounds most excellent!
Cheers!
Yep, Michael, and the Thai was “northern” according to Lucille, which made the Pad Thai dish I ordered different than any I had every tasted, with a heavy accent of peanut oil. Delicious. And I don’t at all regret seeing this Barry play, regardless of the issues. Thanks for your always much-valued input my friend.