Port Authority

Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin Ends Oct 27 8pm civictheatre.ie; George Bernard Shaw Theatre, Carlow Oct 28 8pm gbshawtheatre.ie; Draiocht Arts Centre; Blanchardstown Oct 30 8pm draiocht.ie; Glór, Ennis, Co Clare Oct 31-Nov1 8pm glor.ie

First seen in 2001, Port Authority came at the end of Conor McPherson’s monologue years, and seemed less intent on making fresh discoveries than digging deeper into familiar ground. The speakers in the similarly structured This Lime Tree Bower make their relationships clear, but Port Authority is more of a mood piece: the connecting threads between its protagonists are deliberately vague. What unites the three generations of men here is the depiction of an alternative life – what might be, or what might have been – and their respective retreating to a more comfortable reality.

The young Kevin leaves home for an exhilarating life of rock bands and a girl out of his league. The middle-aged husband Dermot suddenly discovers the world of showbiz liggers and its libidinous, narcotic follies. And Joe, a widower, reflects from his nursing home on a passion he never fully realised.

Decadent Theatre, which last year toured McPherson’s The Seafarer, sees the gains in such vignettes of loss. Although the Galway company has staged new Irish works and international plays before, touring McPherson is a canny offer to diverse audiences, while director Andrew Flynn is fast becoming an authority on McPherson’s Ireland.

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PETER CRAWLEY