|
 I always look forward to an evening in the company of Conor McPherson. His pieces are generally short, but you know you’re going to laugh, probably cry a little bit and come away really thinking about what you’ve seen. It’s a clever playwright that can pack all of that into 90 minutes (and a clever director who can unpack it for you).
 As is often the case with McPherson, the premise of this play was straightforward. Three men - one young, one in mid-life and one elderly - take it in turns to tell portions of a story about something that happened to them and how they felt about it. There’s no interaction between them on stage, they simply take it in turns to come forward and speak directly to the audience.
 Max Batty’s set worked well. It was very neutral, looking a bit like a rather gloomy waiting room in a coach station or ferry terminal (a nod to the Port Authority of the title? I still haven’t worked out why the play is called that). The usual flawless lighting from Stephen Ley ensured that focus was firmly on the current speaker – and drew you in to their individual stories.
 First up is the young man – the likeable Kevin – played by Finlay Macaulay. He created a genuine intimacy with the audience with his measured performance. His thoughtful delivery brought the audience seamlessly between humour and a wistful longing for what could have been. His telling of the disastrous house-warming party in the shared house that he recently moved into was the comic highlight of this production, and the slow unfolding of his Brief Encounter-esque narrative was a delight to watch and utterly poignant.
 Kevin Furness as the unfortunate Dermot also gave a strong and nuanced performance. His account of the glitzy job that he lands through mistaken identity, and his subsequent drunken stumblings through his short tenure before he is rumbled, was hilarious and uncomfortable. He evoked sympathy but also irritation for his shallow selfishness. The narrative unfolded and you realized the tragedy of his life was not professional but personal, in his inability to value his loyal and loving wife.
 Peta Barker as Joe told his tale with in a gentle and considered way, engaging the audience in the quiet sadness of his story of what might have been. His performance was warm and loveable, and he was the only one of the three, in the end, that truly did the right thing and didn’t regret it (too much).
 Allan Hart was working with a fine script, but it took some subtle directing to achieve the sense that you were walking alongside these characters on their journeys of emotional self-discovery – and to only realize at the end how far you’d come. All the character performances were utterly believable, but it’s the women that they talk about who are the real movers and shakers of the narrative. I enjoyed meeting the men, but it’s the women who came home with me.
 I turned to Wikipedia to see if I could learn more about why the play is called Port Authority. It told me absolutely nothing about that but gave this synopsis of the play: “The common thread is what could have happened, and did not, in the three lives presented.” Well, I suppose it is – but it felt like a lot more than that. You do also eventually find out there is a narrative link between the characters, but it’s not a strong one – and I found it hard to believe that The Bangers so dismissively described by Kevin ended up on a stadium tour of the US. Linking the stories narratively was almost unnecessary – it was the thematic thread that resonated.
So overall, everything I expected from an evening with Conor McPherson. I laughed a lot, I cried a little bit and came away thinking that I’d seen a brilliant piece of theatre in which three men perform a play that was really about women. All in 90 minutes. Genius.
Photography by Robert Piwko
|
