Bed Bound — Solas Nua

By: Ronnie Ruff

Edna Walsh has yet to achieve the popularity in America that Conor McPherson has but he is, none the less, one of the most important new playwrights in contemporary Irish theatre. Solas Nua, one of the most exciting local theatre companies around has mounted Bedbound, Walsh’s 2000 play at the DCAC in Adams Morgan. As the lights go down in the small DCAC space a large box that fills the stage collapses, three sides fall to the stage floor to reveal a single bed containing two adults. A physically imposing large man fully dressed in a rumpled business suit and a crippled young lady, her legs bent behind her, lay partially covered by a sheet. What follows is a play of incredibly strong emotional monologues that tell a complex story of the symbiotic relationship between these two crippled people. A young woman with polio (Linda Murray) and her psychotic father Maxie (Brian Hemmingsen) offer anger filled descriptions of their lives and explain how circumstances have brought them to this place of suffering.

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By: Ronnie Ruff

The Mai — Solas Nua 

Irish playwright Marina Carr offers many observations of importance in The Mai currently mounted at The Josephine Butler Arts Center in Columbia Heights. One of note is “Everyone is deranged — Some people just hide it better”, another and the central theme of the play is “There are two kinds of people — there are those that put their children first and those that put their lovers first.” We all parent differently and we are all vastly different people. The Mai, directed by Artistic Director Linda Murray and co-director Caroline Kenney is dreamy and stylish, while retaining the intimacy for which the company has received deserved praise.

This is a play of lilting Irish prose and biting sarcasm as told by the Mai’s sixteen year old daughter Millie (Stephanie Roswell) whose memories of her childhood give way to chilling visions of future events. The Mai (Kerry Waters) is a tragic figure who is left to raise her daughter alone by her philandering cellist husband Richard (Ken Arnold). She builds her family a mansion on the shores of Owl Lake a place of legend and Irish myth. Carr details spirited family arguments and finally anguished family holidays that lead to splits in the fabric that holds the the family together.

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By: Ronnie Ruff

Howie the Rookie

Seeing a Solas Nua production is a lot like getting to ride the biggest baddest rollercoaster without having to go to a big, impersonal amusement park.  This is theatre that is so up front and personal that you find yourself totally emmersed in the characters and their out of control ride through Dublin nightlife.  Dan Brick and Eric Messner take this play in their bloody grasp and before you know it, have you holding on to your seat as The Howie Lee and The Rookie Lee tell you a bruising story of scabies and dead beta fighting fish that will have you laughing one minute and hiding under your seat the next.

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By: Walter Ruff

MisterMan is forty five minutes of Dan Brick and that alone is enough reason for anyone to see this one man show at DCAC.  Mr. Brick is able to take command of an audience with great skill. His has an ability to bring a smile to your face while knowing full well that his character should be bringing fear to your heart instead.  Boyish grins, wide, brilliant shining eyes, Dan pulls you into his character Thomas McGill and once you are comfortable with him lets you in on the little secret that he is keeping – Thomas is mad!.  He also has a goal — he wants to share God with his fellow townspeople.  Aided by just a radio, Thomas walks you through his small town in Ireland to meet some interesting characters – he even lets you know his intimate feelings for a newly found love interest.  But then there is that pesky secret, you see…  Thomas is a bit violent and when his female interest spurns his advances Thomas gets more than a bit out of sorts.   [Read more...]

By: Walter Ruff

Pig and Runt, two club kids growing up in Cork, Ireland have a lot to say–and for the most part they say it through their actions and emotions rather than dialog that one can readily understand. In fact they have developed a special language they share in their own private world. Like relationships in real life, it’s sometimes one’s actions that speak louder than words. We grow up believing in the power of friendship—the love, trust, and bonds we create and nurture over time seem indestructible. Sadly, however, these very elements are able to explode in what seems like seconds. This is what Pig and Runt discover as they shared their seventeenth birthday dancing, crashing and fighting in Cork’s underbelly. Pig is a violent and extremely emotional young man–seemingly a poster child for childhood mental health counseling. He is always ready to fight for his self assigned cause. Runt is his security blanket; he wraps himself in her and refuses to let go. She is the careless, happy club girl and seems oblivious to Pig’s growing sexual desires and revels in the wild birthday joy ride. Yet, she knows she wants more from life and wants eventually to distance herself from Pig’s increasingly violent outbursts. . These best friends and “partners-in-crime” who share almost everything the closest comrades possibly can, soon find that friends never love one each other equally and friendships rarely are forever.

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