One-note characters take low road in 'Lonesome West'
By MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer 03/06/01
Valene Conner (left) and Coleman Conner battle on stage during the Nightingale Theater production of "Lonesome West." STEPHEN PINGRY / Tulsa World
If you like your comedy lowbrow with plenty of abuse and just a touch of heart, then Martin McDonagh's "Lonesome West" is the groin-scratching, nose-picking, bird-flipping, profanity-spewing, rough-housing show for you.
The acting is professional, the technical work is solid, Scott Heberling's direction is concise and Devin Meadows again does exceptional set work, turning a black-box warehouse into a farmhouse.
But I was surprised to find this acclaimed work so one-dimensional -- especially in its first act -- as we meet Coleman and Valene Connor, battling brothers in the town of Leenane, County Galway, rural Ireland. As soon as the stage lights came up on this Theater Club production which opened Thursday night, we had an idea of the kind of people we're going to be dealing with. There's the orange recliner, a rug, the cupboards, the kitchen table and a bedroom door, all spray-painted with a huge "V" to designate them as the property of Valene (George Nelson). There's the massive bloodstain on the wall, a constant reminder of Coleman (Derek Adams) having "accidentally" shot their father to death recently, the result being that Valene got all of his money and their residence.
But look closer. There in the rack beside a chair is a women's magazine. On the cover is a beautiful young woman with strawberry-blond hair, large eyes -- and a mustache, beard and set of sideburns penned in with black ink.
These are two men in their 40s, yet they have never progressed from being selfish, prank- pulling children. They are immature beyond their years.
This set-up is hilarious initially, as the two brothers return from their father's funeral with Father Welsh, a priest who is slowly losing his mind and who has been driven to drink. Valene flaunts his newfound prosperity and torments his brother with his continual quest to buy religious figurines. Coleman, meanwhile, derides Valene as a "virgin f---ing gayboy" and plots how to take his revenge, as he has done so many times before.
There's yelling, accusations of stealing, lying, wonderfully unchoreographed grappling on the floor and swearwords aplenty. All of this is high volume, over and over again. It's great fun. For a while.
Goodness knows, these bombastic kooks are an actor's dream, and Adams and Nelson are clearly having a good time in the portrayals, often smirking and acting up as if mugging for a camera shoot.
But as this two-hour play unfolds, their spiteful banter causes one to lose interest in where these one-note characters are headed, because we already know. The abusive future for this pair is foretold to us in a manner that's about as subtle as an IRA assassination attempt.
So thank goodness for the character of Father Welsh, and thank goodness for a brilliant portrayal by Robert Frayser. His is a complex character, trying to save a parish suffering from murder, suicide and more while he suffers a crisis-of-faith episode on an almost-daily basis.
As Coleman tells him, "The only thing about you is you're a bit too weedy and you're a terror for the drink and you have doubts about Catholicism. Apart from that you're a fine priest."
"You can kill a dozen fellas, you can kill two dozen fellas. So long as you're sorry after, you can still get into heaven," Welsh laments during one such crisis. "But if it's yourself you go murdering, no. Straight to hell."
This role could easily fall into caricature, but Frayser makes Welsh very human and very gentle at times, often talking into the air to a higher power who seemingly isn't listening.
He heartbreakingly delivers a long monologue -- reciting a farewell letter to the brothers in the form of a final, desperate plea for redemption -- and he misses out on every possible human connection he could have made with Girleen, a sweet teenage bootlegger with a tart tongue.
Holly Roberts is quite good as this young girl who's a thick- skinned joker on the surface, as she boldly makes advances toward the priest. But Holly hides a secret passion in her heart, a passion that is revealed too late, after tragedy has struck this town again.
This is a well-done production of a work that is often amusing and occasionally more than that. But just occasionally.
"Lonesome West," which contains mature subject matter, continues its run with performances scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, Thursday-Friday and March 10 at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St. Tickets are $8, with some discounts available, and may be reserved by calling 857-9154.
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8474 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.