Outside Mullingar

 

By Emily Schulten

 

Outside Mullingar opened March 22nd at the Red Barn Theatre and offers audiences a love story that has a little bit of everything, from the dark to the sweet to the weird. Audiences are not deprived of the traditional facets of a romance, but are additionally delighted by the characters that are brought to life in this production.

 

 

Playwright John Patrick Shanley sets the play on a farm in Mullingar, Ireland, where two neighboring families are dealing with grief, loss, secrets, traditions, and the complications of these things over time. Shanley complements the narrative with details that take the audience by surprise and keeps its members from guessing what will come next. In this way this love story keeps itself from resembling exactly any the audience has seen before.

 

 

Three days after her father dies, the audience meets Rosemary Muldoon, played by Amber McDonald Good, who knows the loss of her mother is imminent. This is also where her lifelong neighbor and unrequited love, Anthony Reilly, played by John Good, is situated after losing a mother three years prior and sensing the loss of his father is not far away. These neighbors are facing being the last left on their land, and the therefore facing the responsibility of taking care of traditions they’ve both been preparing for and dreading their whole lives.

 

 

Tony Reilly, Anthony’s father who is played by Tom Murtha, and Aoife Muldoon, Rosemary’s mother who is played by Chris Stone, do a strong job of illustrating the importance of the traditions of land and pride and family that they have seen through and soon must relinquish. Murtha shows audiences the struggle Tony faces in leaving his legacy to a son who is more sensitive than he, as well as in the realization that in dying we are all leaving some things unfinished.

 

 

This production illustrates both the differences between generations as well as the values that this mother and this father have passed to their respective children, which are wrapped up in the farms they are leaving behind and the desires these parents have for their children. Tony and Rosemary carry the burden of what is passed down, despite the deep connection they have to their traditions and responsibilities. While doing this they are working toward finally finding their relationship as they waver between stubborn and vulnerable.

 

 

Both Stone and Amber Good bring laughter to the roles of the grieving, offering viewers a break from the heaviness of loss. In addition the philosophical ideas that Tony exposes along the way, as well as some twists the characters reveal, keep the grief and loneliness at bay.

 

 

Director Carole MacCartee brings to life this love story in a way that highlights the many manifestations of love. The setting portrays as well as the characters the isolation that change, that loss, that responsibility sometimes bring. In this town with little room for anonymity, among characters who feel simultaneously trapped by and bonded with their land and homes, four characters confront love in endings, beginnings, and traditions that seem to have been around forever.

 

 

Outide Mullingar runs from March 22 through April 14 on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. You can find out more or purchase tickets by phoning 305-296-9911 or online at RedBarnTheatre.com

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