Irish tale melancholy, meaningful
Playful and funny but achingly wistful, “Into the West” demonstrates the power of Irish legend and the simple magic of story theater.
Tantrum Theater’s nimble season finale offers delights for all ages.
The elegant art of doing more with less is beautifully embodied in Greg Banks’ 65-minute one-act adaptation of Jim Sheridan’s screenplay for the 1992 film of the same title. The piece focuses on childhood, grief and renewal.
Director Jen Wineman’s zestful staging heightens the rollicking humor but never at the expense of the play’s emotional core: two poor children with a rich
imagination.
The three-member cast tackled about 60 roles, achieving remarkable clarity amid the quick-changing succession at the preview Thursday in the Abbey Theater.
Turna Mete and Blake Segal are endearing as a motherless young sister and brother. Mete's Ally exudes tomboyish enthusiasm amid unspoken woundedness; Segal's Finn fizzes with coltish energy and wide-eyed curiosity.
The children’s coming of age is touching, but getting there is more than half the fun.
As both the grieving, drinking father and storyweaving grandfather, Greg Jackson anchors the production with an adult’s somber perspective. Yet Jackson shines brightest in bit roles — including his turn as a thorny bush of berries for the kids to devour.
Perhaps the most vivid character onstage is Tir na nOg, a mythical white horse that changes the family. The actors take turns conjuring the creature through whinnying sounds or trotting movements, but the ofteninvisible horse is evoked mostly through the audience’s imagination.
Onstage throughout, Rob Witmer plays Thomas Johnson’s plaintive instrumental music on accordion, reinforcing the rhythms while gently enhancing the moods of joy and sorrow.
The actors make inventive use of generic props — a flat square of wood becomes a train, then a store counter — on set designer Deb O’s wood-planked stage. Alan C. Edwards' atmospheric lighting buoys the aura of healing transformation.
Although this tragicomic gypsy fable is set just a few years ago in Ireland, “Into the West” weaves a timeless spell.