‘Playboy’ Plays It Real

By MARY A. BRAZELTON

Crimson Staff Writer



There were riots in the streets of Dublin when John Millington Synge’s provocative “The Playboy of the Western World” was first produced in Ireland in 1907. Running until May 6, the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) production of “Playboy” hasn’t yet incited Harvard students to a mass uprising, but it does put on a great show. This Loeb Mainstage play tells the story of Christy Mahon (W. “Hugh” Malone ’08), a traveler with a gift for blarney who arrives in a small town in Ireland’s County Mayo claiming to have killed his father.

Christy wins the praise of the town and the love of Pegeen Mike (Catrin M. Lloyd-Bollard ’08), a feisty townswoman, for the bravery he affects in his vivid story of patricide; things get complicated when his father (Arlo D. Hill ’08) shows up with a head wound and angry questions.

As the final Mainstage of the year, “Playboy” has great expectations to live up to. Fortunately, director Aoife E. Spillane-Hinks ’06 and executive producer Zoe M. Savitsky ’07 fulfill their potential in crafting a show that is loaded with themes of deception, romance, and paternal rifts. “Playboy” treats these issues seriously but also molds them into a genuinely entertaining drama.

Seeming to draw inspiration from “Fiddler on the Roof” at times and “The Great Gatsby” at others, “Playboy” idealizes youth and beauty while acknowledging the fleeting quality of the two. It does so with a flair for the fictional that is typical of its native Ireland; no matter what happens, the characters all prize a good story.

All the actors really nail their roles; although the thick Irish accents of the cast make the dialogue difficult to understand at first, they are well-done. The leads are performed by a mixture of the most talented actors in the sophomore class and some of the most experienced actors in the HRDC, and the cast’s collective work exhibits a professionalism that befits their accumulated skill.

Malone turns in a solid performance as Christy Mahon. He demonstrates versatility in his ability to present a character who is at once a romantic fool and a man of reckless audacity. Considering that this is Malone’s first Mainstage show, his portrayal of Christy is very promising, and the chemistry between Malone and co-star Lloyd-Bollard is equally powerful.

As Pegeen, Lloyd-Bollard stands out as another sophomore actor to watch. She lends a certain spunk to the role that makes you understand why Pegeen is different from the other girls of the town, who throw themselves blindly at Christy. At the same time, however, Pegeen’s naïve concept of romance prevents her from seeing Christy’s lack of substance, and it’s this portrayal that Lloyd-Bollard brings to life particularly vividly.

Catherine P. Walleck ’06 presents a complex character well as the Widow Quin, a predatory townswoman who battles with Pegeen to win the affections of Christy but who must also deal with the advances and questions of Old Mahon, Christy’s father, who seeks revenge for his son’s ungratefulness. Walleck is ending her career in theater at Harvard on a strong note as she charges the Widow’s character with a maturity sorely lacking in the other characters.

Hill nearly steals the show as Old Mahon, the father of Christy who embodies the sense of undying paternalism in the show. In that role, Hill brings his character to life as a ghostly, tattered figure who is believable both as the villain and the victim he is made out to be. Most importantly, Hill’s sardonic manner as the coarse and lecherous old man provides the show with its principal source of comedy.

The other source of that comedy stems from Liam R. Martin ’06, another Mainstage veteran who plays Shawn Keogh, the stuffy and sanctimonious townsman who hopes to wed to Pegeen. Martin’s fussy, cowardly antics make him a loveable and laughable anti-hero.

Spillane-Hinks’ directing is typically excellent; in this, her last show at the College, she demonstrates particular skill in drawing out dramatic tension in building the conflict between Christy and his father to its inevitable climax. She also places just the right amount of emphasis on particularly funny moments. Given the difficulty of the characters’ thick accents and rapid speech, Spillane-Hinks does an exceptional job in trying to make the action clear and understandable, although the quick exchanges at the beginning of the show make it hard to follow at first.

The set design is spectacularly utilitarian. Designer Todd Weekley successfully creates a set that is minimalist, but provides a wealth of material for the actors to interact with, from mirrors on the wall to the attic platform. The set’s rich earth tones also complement the small-town setting of an Irish village. The lighting, designed by Joshua Randall, is similarly organic and simple; its replication of the progression of natural daylight is especially admirable.

The costumes—designed by Andrea R. Bomar ’05—also contribute to the natural feeling of the town in their simplicity. Although the clothes of the townspeople are plain, their rich colors reflect the liveliness of the characters, and they add to the genuine feel of a small village in turn-of-the-century Ireland.

One of the best parts of the show is the incorporation of live Celtic music, led by Molly J. Hester ’08. The band—which includes traditional instruments like the Uilleann pipes and the bodhran—is understated and professional, providing spirit and a much-needed sense of poignancy to the show without detracting from the main action.

The presence of “genuine” Irish music also suggests an important issue that surrounds the show: the issue of its own authenticity. “Sex, Lies, and Patricide—in Beautiful Ireland!” is “Playboy’s” tagline on its posters, and the slogan suggests a tension that exists between the commercial exploitation of Ireland and the play’s attempt to accurately represent a real historical setting.

Just as its characters navigate the often-blurred distinction between truth and fiction, “Playboy” has to work against exotic versions of the “Emerald Isle” to present an authentic version of Ireland. It’s this reality that Spillane-Hinks tries to capture—to tell a real story of the place, even though her protagonist Christy cannot, in all its terrible beauty. The cast and crew of “Playboy” does so admirably.



—Reviewer Mary A. Brazelton can be reached at mbrazelt@fas.harvard.edu.