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Shining City

Shining City by Conor McPherson, directed by Des Smith

Written by Conor McPherson, directed by Des Smith

Season: 1st to 10th October 2009 at TheatreWorks, Recreation Drive, Birkenhead.
Performances: 8pm Tuesday to Saturday, 4pm Sunday, no show Monday
Bookings: phone 419-0415. Tickets $20 and $15 concession - pay at the door, cash or cheque only (sorry, no Eftpos).

Each of McPherson's two main characters is wrestling with demons. John, a recently bereaved 54-year-old sales rep, is haunted by the presence of his dead wife. In a series of confessional encounters with his Dublin therapist, Ian, he reveals the hoarded guilt that rationally explains an irrational phenomenon. But, as we learn in two complementary scenes, Ian has his own anxieties: his abandonment of his partner, which we graphically witness, may have its origins in his own insecurity.

As in The Weir, McPherson brilliantly reconciles the mundane and the metaphysical. The play is anchored in the real world; yet beneath the everyday Dublin world of business meetings and fumbling adulteries lurks a powerful sense of loneliness; and McPherson implies the Irish obsession with the dead is not just a religious hangover but a consequence of failure to achieve proper contact in life. (Michael Billington, the Guardian)

In terms of construction, "Shining City" is as close to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets. As elliptical as the conversation is, there's not a word or pause that doesn't feed the work's theme or its interconnected, disconnected stories. The same is true of even small physical details, like the malfunctioning downstairs buzzer in Ian's office building, and what turns out to be the most shocking ending you may see on stage. McPherson has found an inspired alternative to those inadequate tools of communication called words.(Ben Brantley, the NYT)

Cast:
John: Billy Beggs
Ian: Jerry Miller
Neasa: Michelle O'Neill
Laurence: Mark Farrelly

Director: Des Smith
Shining City cast: Beggs, Farrelly, Miller, O'Neill
John, Laurence, Ian and Neasa.