THE HANGOVER REPORT – Irish Rep’s production of WOMAN AND SCARECROW is a pitch black comedy from a playwright with an unapologetically gothic sensibility

Pamela J. Gray and Stephanie Roth Haberle in Marina Carr's "Woman and Scarecrow" at the Irish Repertory Theatre.

Pamela J. Gray and Stephanie Roth Haberle in Marina Carr’s “Woman and Scarecrow” at the Irish Repertory Theatre.

I recently had a chance to watch a performance of Woman and Scarecrow by Marina Carr – a playwright I hadn’t been familiar with – at Off-Broadway’s Irish Repertory Theatre. It’s a dark comedy that lies somewhere in the macabre realm between Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women (which is currently represented on Broadway in an exquisite production) and Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer (which recently concluded an acclaimed, sold out run at Irish Rep’s mainstage). Like Albee’s play, Woman and Scarecrow tells the story of a seemingly bitter woman at the very end of her life, contemplating death and the quality of her life from the perspective of the deathbed. And like McPherson’s play, it depicts this woman’s heightened supernatural encounter with a figure – the Scarecrow – from “the other side”.

There’s are many overlapping, often contradictory emotions at play here (rage, bitterness, shame, love, hate, etc.), and the playwright manages to skillfully give each a grounded basis in the story. One of the more fascinating aspects of Ms. Carr’s play is its potentially potent mixture of biting comedy and pitch-black nihilism. Woman and Scarecrow is a play that at once seethes and has fun with its unapologetically gothic sensibility.

Overall, the Irish Rep mounting, which has been directed by Ciaran O’Reilly, is solid. I did, however, have minor qualms regarding the way the production handles the play’s many balancing acts – hallucination  vs. reality, absurd comedy vs. tense domestic drama – which generally could have been more carefully considered. Luckily the performances are rich and forceful enough to overcome the production’s slight shortfalls. As the titular Woman, Stephanie Roth Haberle is giving a very good performance that’s both identifiable and repellent, which is the way we’re supposed to feel. As the Scarecrow, the sultry Potomac Theatre favorite Pamela J. Gray is seductive and soulful, as per usual.

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WOMAN AND SCARECROW
Off-Broadway, Play
Irish Repertory Theatre
2 hours, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 24

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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