View from the Green Room: The spell of Moonshine
Jim Nolan's Moonshine was performed by Quay Players at Garter Lane.
Quay Players, Waterford, rolled back a quarter of a century with their production of Jim Nolan’s Moonshine at Garter Lane. The most recent production of the play was in 2013 when tonight’s director Shauna Farrell also directed.
The action of this play takes place in the local Church of Ireland where the Rev. Langton (Bill Stafford) awaits the imminent death of his wife Margaret. He has engaged the services of local undertaker Mr McKeever (Gerry Kane), otherwise known as Mac, who is currently mounting a production of Shakespeare’s ‘A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream’, against a background of loss of cast and venue, and an exponential loss of interest from the remainder of his troupe. Four actors now play all 18 parts. Langton’s daughter Elizabeth (Paula Weldon), with whom Mac has had an affair and a child, returns for the death of her mother and also for reconciliation with Mac.
It’s easy to see why this play is so popular with actors and audience alike. Huge issues are raised: Langton’s loss of religious faith and his awareness of the hypocrisy of his situation as minister to his flock, the misogynistic self-loathing of fellow cast member Griffin (Kieran Walsh), who is a closet homosexual, lost and spurned by another player Brigid (Caitlin Whelan). Moonshine charts the whole notion of Redemption at Easter for all involved in what is really a tragedy of heroic-failure.
The play is a very funny piece and Gerry Kane blends both the witty and the philosophical, theatrical personality of the undertaker. Mac is a natural comic. Gerry’s timing and comedic physical presence and mannerisms are sharp, but perhaps too sharp to achieve the correct balance for the character of the complex funeral director. For me the comic persona of the undertaker/amateur director is taken too far as the sincerity of the love affair between Mac and the young Elizabeth struggles to come through.
Benedetto Di Placido brings a touching sincerity to the role of the young and simple Michael; as does Kieran Walsh as the snarling, angry and frustrated young homosexual forced to live a life he doesn’t choose in a rural world that will neither forgive nor forget any deviance from the accepted norms of social and sexual behaviour. Paula Weldon, as Rev. Langton’s young daughter Elizabeth, struggles against the comic tone of Jim Nolan’s script in trying to confront Mac for his desertion and betrayal; her honesty and openness is in sharp contrast with his comic presence. Isolated souls struggling to communicate across a gulf of weariness and despair.
Bill Stafford gives a very convincing performance as Rev Langton – one of Jim Nolan’s most interesting characters. Bill captures all of the contradictions of the conflicted Langton – the minister who has lost his faith, failed his flock, as well as the loving father who has failed his daughter.
Caitlin Whelan sparkles as Brigid, the young Leaving Cert ingénue, mesmerised by the moonshine of theatre and the mesmeric character of the charismatic undertaker. For her failure is not an option and Caitlin’s buoyant spirit is a joy. The rehearsal scene between the undertaker and his young starlet is hilarious, although the failure to use the embalming table as a bed is a pity.
A beautiful church set, designed by Director Shauna Farrell and Jamie Roche, is dominated by a magnificent stained glass window over an altar that is flanked by a massive organ and a simple lectern. Revolving flats enable Mac’s mortuary parlour.
Unfortunately, too much of the church scenes are set upstage and lessen the dramatic impact, while the sensitive dialogue of Mac and Elizabeth needed far more projection.
There is a lyrical beauty to this play, which is especially evident in the closing sequence, where a mini-performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes place as an homage to Langton’s deceased wife Margaret in pursuit of a truth that offers redemption for all.
Quay Players captured this sequence beautifully and left us all under that spell of Nolan’s Moonshine.
