Druid Theatre Company | Dir: Garry Hynes
There were things I didn’t like about this play. Fairly minor things overall, and I feel churlish picking them out, so in the interests of maintaining a veneer of critical credibility, let’s just fire them out here and then we can get on with things. The tone, first of all, isn’t quite sure what to be… there’s serious drama, but it sits uneasily besides the borderline panto of later scenes. Accents are wont to go wandering in mid-sentence. The performances… well, the performances are solid, but Keith Duffy throwing himself around the stage crotch-first, like David Bowie in Labyrinth by way of Carry On, is almost more than a person can take of a Tuesday evening.
There were things I didn’t like. But by the end, I was struggling to keep a hold of them, because more than anything else, this play is ridiculously good fun.
It kind of sneaks up on you. The opening two scenes establish the plot — Maggie Polpin’s husband has died, and she aims to take firm control of his estate, despite the protestations of their four children — and while there are plenty of laughs, at its core is a dour story of the darker days of rural Ireland. But after the short interval, it takes a turn for the pantomime. Suddenly we’re treated to Duffy’s bawdy scenery-chewing as his roving salesman Teddy Heelin thrusts and parries with Sarah Greene‘s Gert and John Olohan‘s Byrne (both of whom show excellent comic instincts). From there on, despite the ample opportunity afforded by the script, the company wisely refrains from sinking back into melodrama.
The highlight, of course, is Aisling O’Sullivan‘s excellent turn as Maggie. By the end, you’re practically applauding her every caustic, mule-stubborn utterance. Through all the scheming and roaring, the small-town back-room social manoeuvring, the complete and utter lack of compromise, O’Sullivan portrays a woman who’s difficult to know and yet curiously likeable. There’s some kind of heroism in there — but you wouldn’t dare feel sorry for her.
Big Maggie runs nationwide until February 2012. For more information see the Druid website.
