One of the most iconic plays of Irish theatre has been reimagined for our times and received a standing ovation at the Lyric Theatre during its opening night.
Running until November 2, JM Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World tells the story of Pegeen Mike (Eloise Stevenson) who is tired of her life, working in her father’s pub in a small village in rural Ireland, where she is betrothed to the dull Shawn Keogh, only for stranger Christy Mahon (Michael Shea) to walk into her life with a story that sets the whole village talking.
While all the women in the village have their heads turned by Christy, whose dark secret makes him all the more attractive, the playboy’s past threatens to catch up with him and it surely does.
First performed in 1907, the play is as fresh today as it was when it caused riots in Dublin on its opening night. The characters’ irreverence towards the Catholic Church is obvious from the off with Shawn Keogh dipping his fingers in a holy water font beside the door and blessing himself. In a shebeen. From here on in, anything goes.
The performances are first class throughout as we are drawn into the pub and the claustrophobic lives of the villagers, as the excellent Widow Quin (Aoibhéann McCann) tries to seduce the playboy away from Pegeen.
Heavily influenced by Hiberno-English dialect throughout, which derives from the Irish language, The Playboy of the Western World captures a time in Ireland that is lost. However, the issues that it confronts – family relationships, hopelessness and hope, love and betrayal – are eternal themes that are very much alive.
The Playboy of the Western World is a Lyric Theatre and Dublin Theatre Festival co-production in association with the Belfast International Arts Festival and runs until November 2. Ticket prices start from £12. For further information on booking visit www/lyrictheatre.co.uk