One of the benefits I hope to get from this blog is to retain my overall experience of the theater and movies I see a little longer. Whatever it is I feel I've learned after seeing a show, or whatever catharsis I've had, tends to dilute over the walk home, and it's always such a shame.
So tonight I saw Port Authority, starring John Gallagher, Jr, of Spring Awakening fame. It's a collection of monologues told by three generations of Irishmen. (It was very weird at first to hear John Gallagher speak in an Irish accent, but I think he did it well.) Each of the monologues deals with falling in love and then not taking the opportunity to pursue it. (I'm not quite sure if the "middle aged" character's monologue fits exactly into this mold, but you get the point. Regret and love. That's what the show was about.)
Gallagher's character, Kevin, loves a girl named Claire. Claire has a boyfriend and Kevin has a girlfriend named Trish. Claire and Kevin are housemates, but Kevin never makes his move. He decides there are fighters and there are people who go with the flow, and he thinks he and Claire both fit into the latter category. He thinks Trish is a fighter, and so he resigns to being with Trish.
It's the ho-hum, this-is-the-way-things-are attitude in each of the monologues that makes them so sad.
Lee, don't let me turn out like Kevin!
Port Authority
by Conor McPherson
2 comments:
Wow. I seriously can't imagine what Spring Awakening must be like now with a different Melchior. We'll have to go see it to find out. Does it seem like a wise next step for Mr. Gallagher? I'm surprised he'd take a non-singing role next. Maybe he wants a break.
Also, Port Authority is a really difficult title to find info about online, since the web really wants me to have nothing but bus information. :) Did it have NY themes or was the location very relevant?
It takes place in Ireland! Everyone spoke in an Irish accent, and it took a while to get used to actually. NYT has a review you can check out.
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