"And Neither Have I Wings to Fly" at the Road Theatre Company

Let me say for starters that this is simply my favorite piece of theatre from the Road. While I unfortunately missed their two biggest hits from the last year, I have seen my share of shows there. The Road has an extremely unusual and lucky situation whereby all their rent is paid by the city, which means that their actors' (sizable) dues and donations can go straight into production elements. The result is that very often the best work on their stage IS the stage. And while Desma Murphy's set for "And Neither Have I Wings to Fly" is lovely (the interior and exterior edges of an Irish country home), the play is a first-rate piece of theatre.

Ann Noble's drama revolves around the Donnellys--an Irish family in the 1950s coping after the death of the mother. The youngest daughter is slated to marry a nice--if ordinary--young man, but bumps into a traveling actor she once had a crush on, putting her feelings into a tailspin. Meanwhile, the older daughter continues to put her life on hold--as she did throughout her mother's illness--in order to be the stabilizing force in everyone else's life. The father is just trying to catch his breath.

There is little new here, per se, but the sum of these parts very much does add up to a greater whole. From the first scene Scott Cummin's nuanced, straightforward and utterly solid direction sucks us into the world of the Donnellys. These are all people you can relate to with believable human-sized needs; a familiar, real family dynamic. It didn't take long for me to feel like these were not just actors in a play, but...well...old friends, the way the characters in your favorite book take on that quality. You need to know what happens to them and you're sad they're gone at the end of the play. If that isn't the hallmark of great theatre I don't know what is.

Ultimately it's a play about family, love, letting go and being true to yourself. These big, fat, universal themes--as well as the solidity of the script--should place this play up there with the best new American works. And this inaugural production should go a long way to getting it there.

Two other things I loved: 1) the casting. The sisters look like sisters. The one daughter's fiance and his brother look like brothers. You get so used to just overlooking this idea in entertainment media (whom would YOU rather cast: the better actor or the one who looks like the star actor's relative?) that when it's so noticeably right it's quite striking. And 2) Ms. Noble's performance in the role of older sister, Eveline. So often when a playwright acts in his own play he is SO concerned that the audience get EVERY SINGLE DETAIL that the performance becomes overwrought and unwatchable. Not so with Ms. Noble. An experienced pro, she knows this character down to the bone and she shows her to us as a three-dimensional person: good, bad and ugly and all of it as real as it gets--down to her can-do, ungraceful walk. It's a standout performance in an exceptional cast.

If you read this while "And Neither Have I Wings to Fly" is still running, I can not urge you strongly enough to make the time to see it. A!

'Til next time!
--HDSQ, Jr.