THE HANGOVER REPORT – TWO BY FRIEL: A pair of one-act plays about the potency and fragility of love from the Irish master quietly beguiles

Aoife Kelly and Phil Gillen in “Lovers: Winners”, the first of two one-act plays by Brian Friel in "Two By Friel" at the Irish Rep.

Aoife Kelly and Phil Gillen in “Lovers: Winners”, the first of two one-act plays by Brian Friel in “Two By Friel” at the Irish Rep.

It’s been a while since I’ve caught a Brian Friel play. The late great Irish playwright (he passed away in 2015 and is strongly missed), one of the indisputable masters of playwriting in the English language, will forever have a special place in my heart. His Tony-winning 1990 play Dancing at Lughnasa was the first straight play I ever saw on Broadway at the then-called Plymouth Theatre (now the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre). The scene where the Mundy sisters break out into irrepressible dance was one of my first transcendent experiences in the theater. Suffice to say, I was hooked.

This weekend, I got a long-overdue dosage of Mr. Friel via a double bill at the Irish Repertory Theatre entitled Two By Friel, which is comprised of two one-act plays, “Lovers: Winners” and “The Yalta Game”. The overarching theme of this altogether beguiling endeavor – the evening was curated sensitively by thoughtful young director Conor Bagley – is the potency and fragility of romantic love. In “Lovers: Winners”, we eavesdrop on a vibrant young couple on the eve of a tragic event (think along the lines of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia). In “The Yalta Game”, we see a passionate extra-marital affair bud before our very eyes. Both plays display traits that make Mr. Friel an indispensable playwright – few other writers can draw you in with their intellect with such warmth and grace. It was an honor to be reminded of that.

The production at the Irish Repertory was a pleasant surprise, given that most of the theater artists involved in Two By Friel (including the director) were unknown to me. Mr. Bagley’s direction is ideal. He clearly finds Mr. Friel’s work compelling, which is evident in the quiet confidence of his elegant staging. His quartet of actors (Phil Gillen, Jenny Leona, Aidan Redmond, and Aoife Kelly) is excellent. Their distinctive performances were beautifully calibrated to each other and the texts – an accomplishment that’s sometimes tough to attain in a venue as intimate as Irish Rep’s studio space – and they resonate with me still.

RECOMMENDED

 

TWO BY FRIEL
Off-Broadway, Play
Irish Repertory Theatre
2 hours (with on intermission)
Through December 23

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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