Philadelphia, Here I Come!

Philadelphia, Here I Come!
Lyric Theatre, Belfast
***

Emigration has returned to Ireland with a vengeance, and so it was in 1964, the year Brian Friel’s early masterpiece instilled an exciting new theatrical language into the mouths of Gar O’Donnell and his swaggering private persona, who, on the eve of his departure for Philadelphia, voices the thoughts and ambitions raging in his head.

In that context, this should feel like a play for today, but Friel was writing in a very different time and place, where Catholicism was a certainty, people rarely strayed far from their home patch, and young men’s sexual encounters took place almost entirely in their imaginations.

Director Andrew Flynn plays a straight bat in this Lyric production, timed to commemorate the writer's 85th birthday. While some performances are a touch two-dimensional, the swirling storyline, still resonant with poetic lyricism and musicality, is sincerely delivered.

Under Ciaran Bagnall’s shadowy lighting, Owen MacCárthaigh’s set cleverly evokes a generic rural house with a modern extension bolted on to it. On the other side of the kitchen door lies O’Donnell’s hardware shop, run by a father and son who live and work together in stifling non-communication.

Stella McCusker's perfectly judged Madge brings order and female intuition to this overwhelmingly male domain, while Des McAleer opts to play SB O'Donnell not as a flinty figure of fear but as an awkward, troubled man, ill-equipped to be a single parent. As Gar Public and Private, Peter Coonan and Gavin Drea make an effectively contrasting pairing, with Coonan especially convincing as a clumsy, needy young fellow drowning in confusion and indecision.

There comes a welcome flash of the unexpected in Dermott Hickson’s terrific turn as loud-mouthed Ned, acknowledged leader of the gang of pals, coerced into showing up to toast Gar’s terrifyingly big adventure. Until March 8