Muck of the Irish

IRISH Playwright Graham Reid understands the importance of being earnest, but he hasn't quite grasped the importance of being compelling.

Remembrance

Written by Graham Reid

Directed by Munson Hicks

At the Huntington Theatre

through October 18

Remembrance takes place in war-torn Belfast, a setting that would seem to be full of ripe dramatic material about the effect of war on families. Unfortunately, the family relationships in Reid's 1984 play range from the incredibly bland to the inexplicably volatile.

Bert (Emery Battis) and Theresa (Kim Hunter) are elderly lovers who first met at the graveyard where each mourns a son. Near the opening of the play we see them picnicking on a graveyard bench discussing their future.

Both have to deal with recalcitrant offspring. Bert's son Victor (Ross Bickell) is a policeman who, since the death of his brother, has been trying to convince everyone who cares about him that he's a "non-thinking fascist thug."

In Theresa's home it's Deirdre (Robin Mosely) who causes trouble. Her IRA husband is in jail for murder and she feels hemmed in by her life with her three young children. Her sister Joan (Susan Pellegrino) is a neat freak on the way to spinsterhood.

THE COURSE of Bert and Theresa's love affair is interrupted by the violent events going on around them. The play, however, fails to explore the ramifications of those events; it merely takes note of them. It's impossible to doubt Reid's sincerity but hard not to notice his lack of intensity.

To make matters worse, most of the plot elements of Remembrance seem lifted from a host of classic family dramas. There's sibling rivalry and some handy family skeletons in the closet a la O'Neill, and a web of family resentments that seem taken right out of Williams.

In synthesizing these elements, Reid doesn't bother to give his own plot any internal logic. The scenes don't build on one another; they seem to serve only to throw various characters together at random. The play's ending illustrates this lack of coherence and exposes the plot as an eccentric game of mix-and-match.

THE PLAY is at its best when it satirizes the turmoil of Irish life. Reid shows an unexpectedly biting sense of humor which is best brought to life by Robin Mosely as Deirdre. Deirdre's bawdy sense of humor and her frustrated desires are capably handled by Mosely. Reid also gives her some of the best punchlines. Discussing her lack of a sex life, Deirdre declares she has found a new form of birth control-"arrest at 3 a.m. and a life sentence." Another capable performance is turned in by Susan Pellegrino as Joan.

Battis and Hunter are sweet enough as the geriatric lovers, but there's no real spark to their interaction, no real reason for us to believe that they would step out of their safe lives and fall in love. This may have something to do with Battis's occasional substitution of blustering for emotion and Hunter's tendency to look a little lost.

Ultimately, Remembrance doesn't challenge the audience. As the old couple observe during one of their cemetary outings, "You have to be dead to get this kind of peace and quiet." Or else you could just go down to the Huntington.