THE HANGOVER REPORT – Stephen Rea absolutely horrifies in David Ireland’s deeply unsettling CYPRUS AVENUE, a love child of Albee and McDonagh

Amy Molloy and Stephen Rea in David Ireland's "Cyprus Avenue" at the Public Theater.

Amy Molloy and Stephen Rea in David Ireland’s “Cyprus Avenue” at the Public Theater.

This weekend, I managed to sneak in a viewing of David Ireland’s deeply unsettling Cyprus Avenue, which closed this afternoon at the Public Theater. The production, which enjoyed runs at the notable Abbey Theatre in Dublin and Royal Court Theatre in London, featured a tour-de-force performance from Stephen Rea, who is perhaps best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in the 1992 film The Crying Game.

Mr. Ireland’s play tells the story of a middle aged Belfast Unionist whose psychological stability starts to unravel when his daughter gives birth to his granddaughter. Instead of giving his life more purpose, the event inexplicably triggers doubt around his political beliefs, which up until that point had been unshakeable. As he loses his mental capacity, Cyprus Avenue starts down a rabbit hole that’s unpredictable, surreal, and uncomfortably hilarious. To depict this, Mr. Ireland and his director Vicky Featherstone have skillfully utilized the art of theater to elegantly fold time, space, and reality in on themselves.

Mr. Rea in the psychopathic central role of the troubled Belfast Unionist gave an utterly masterful performance. It’s a performance that’s terrifying in its volatility and depiction of escalating anxiety. His performance was made even more sinister given the charisma he imbued the character. His fellow actors were all excellent as his foils, but make no mistake, this was Mr. Rea’s show. It’s the main reason to visit the pitch black Cyprus Avenue, which exudes both the absurdity of an Edward Albee play and the uninhibited, almost gleeful, violence of a work by Martin McDonagh. Indeed, the production’s final 15 minutes are among the most shockingly violent – arguably distasteful – sequences I’ve seen onstage, which Mr. Rea unflinchingly handles with horrific, calm clarity.

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CYPRUS AVENUE
Off-Broadway, Play
The Public Theater
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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