Patchwork of Freedom

BELLS GONG in the dark. Sirens wail. Lights fade in on three corpses on a stage.

Lights dim. Three people raise their hands in the air. Funereal music resounds as the three spread out over the stage. Spray of machine-gun fire. The hands and arms extend over their heads. Darkness.

So begins and ends the Quincy House Theatrical's production of Brian Friel's The Freedom of the City. We start off and conclude with the same event. But we must concentrate hard to determine what happens in the interim. Throughout the morass of plot, we have to distinguish the various lines and hope they don't get hopelessly tangled.

Similar to movies like Breaker Morant and Gallipoli. "The Freedom of the City" portrays the sacrifice of three people to society--the English society. The plot presents the events leading up to the death of three Irish people in 1970, and the tribunal which attempted to determine if the three were murdered by the police or justly executed for initiating the violence.

The play commences with corpses of Lily (Jennifer Divine), Skinner (Roger Gould), and Michael (Paolo Carozza) being carried off the stage. The focus changes quickly. We are plunged into the tribunal hearings to determine the facts of the deaths. The inquiry lasts throughout the play, but the proceedings are punctuated by flashbacks and seemingly irrelevant commentary by unrelated characters such as an American sociologist, newspapermen, and visitors to a bar. This technique, the appearance of outside characters, usually succeeds in providing external perspectives on the tragedy, but the patchwork of a plot often slacks off as characters go off onto unnecessary tangents.

In a play containing very little action, preciseness of movement and conversation is essential to preserve a fluidity to the piece as a whole. With superfluous dialogue and slow transitions between scenes. "The Freedom of the City" does not flow crisply.

The play, however, is effectively set on an angular multi-level stage containing a richly furnished chamber, a railing, a podium, and stairs leading to different levels. The various levels constructed on the stage interestingly reflect the various levels of action in the plot. After a march for civil rights, the three Irishmen seek shelter from tear gas in the chambers of a high religious person. The conversation and action during their afternoon together is also pieced through the drama. The scenes show their innocence. They come across not as revolutionaries, but as simple people with simple needs.

Jennifer Divine plays the first of three main characters, Lily, the middle-aged mother of 12, Divine, who stunningly portrays the matron with an infectious warmth, savors her role, as her ever-present broad smile reflects the good-naturedness of her character. Practical needs spur Lily's participation in the illegal marches, we sympathize with her desires for a better life.

Paolo Carozza's Michael joins the ranks of the marchers spurred by idealistic desires for a better life. Carozza performs refreshingly with a fervent gleam in his eyes, reflecting his dedication to a clean victory. His upright posture and naively strained voice show the determination of youth.

The third character does not believe in anything. He has lost his belief in fairness through his aimless passage through life. Roger Gould's Skinner has the acquired cynicism of a man fighting an up-hill battle. Gould captures the role perfectly, embodying the character with a disarming insolence. His comic timing is marvelous.

HOW THE TIME these three spend together leads to their violent demise is revealed through the tribunal. The judge, played by Josh Mutton, develops the scenario through questioning various characters. None of the witness roles requires much depth, and each is adequately presented. Mutton shows a dutiful judge whose concern for preserving the peace condones the brusqueness of the soldiers, the matter-of-factness of the doctors.

Contrary to what the scenes with actual characters have indicated, the tribunal episodes portray the three as bloodthirsty, armed terrorists. The audience knows what really happened. We see another truth replacing ours, and though we don't believe it, we are powerless.

Throughout all this, a sociologist (IIana Hardesty) lectures to us about the plight of the poor. Her well-presented platitudes about repressed people raise the plot to an abstract level. We see the connections between her generalizations of the poor and the three victims, but her role diverts our real focus. Hardesty's performance could equal any Harvard professor's lecture. But in this plot based heavily on talking, watching her talk from her podium tires us.

Sprinkled through all this are citizens' reactions given by song in a bar. Carol Jackson as Balladier leads a song about freedom and deliverance from oppression but it is too drawn out. Her strong voice poignantly raises the three victims to the level of martyrdom. And Jackson effectively opens the second act singing a ballad about them. Appearances of a priest (David Jackson) and a reporter (Pat Marren) add even more dimensions of religion and comercialization.

Where will it all end? The various threads throughout the plot start to pull and tear. The evidence presented is too dense to toss away. We have three characters meeting--Lily and Skinner's drinking and dancing, the tension between Michael and Skinner.

We then listen to the army officer's description of a massive maneuver to capture militants. We want to scream. The opposing side, the establishment, is too dark. No light seeps out, and there lies the final hole in the plot.

The play's fragmentation lacks that one continuous bond needed to hold it together. Everything is presented, but seems somewhat lethargic, almost questioning the progression of events. All the accessories are there too, an interesting set well used by a cast of actors, many of whom play more than one role. But a spark is needed to ignite the play.

IN THE END the highlights of the show rest with the three characters. Each reveals the deep penetration of character in a monologue as each faces death. Their moments on stage almost erase the other looseness of the play. But the scope around these characters is too broad. Somehow the true meaning gets lost in between the tribunal and the sociologist. A more steady, vibrant ground needs to be established before these three characters can poignantly strive for the freedom of the city.