by Brian Friel
directed by: Charlotte Moore
January 19 – April 10, 2011
Brian Friel, Ireland’s master storyteller (Dancing at Lughnasa, Translations, Philadelphia, Here I Come) has devised a riveting contemporary drama about the terrible consequences of a medical miracle.
Molly has sat in happy, capable, independent darkness since she was ten months old. When her husband, a restless, unemployed enthusiast makes her blindness his latest cause, he consults a once famous star surgeon who, despite being half drowned in Irish whiskey agrees to attempt to restore Molly’s sight.
When the bandages come off, remarkable revelations ensue. The privacy of blindness is assaulted. Can one “learn to see”? Or will the shock of realization overwhelm a beautiful woman who has never seen her face! Friel’s fascinating journey plunges deeply into the secrets and hearts of three extraordinary characters who lower the veil and allow us into their very private lives.
“MOLLY SWEENEY IS ONE OF MR. FRIEL’S MOST REMARKABLE PLAYS, This revival, staged by Charlotte Moore, is IMMENSELY PERSUASIVE. A devastating parable of disappointment in all its terrible forms, and one that is vastly more powerful because it is so understated. Never do you feel as though Ms. Moore’s three fine actors are “performing.” (IT) IS SO GOOD THAT IT ACTUALLY MADE ME SHIVER—REPEATEDLY. ” — Wall Street Journal
“A deeply moving meditation on hope, change and despair, it’s A COMPELLING PIECE OF THEATER, ONE IN WHICH THE ENDING APPLAUSE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE PLAY’S EFFECTS. For the careful viewer “Molly Sweeney” is an astonishing work, one that acutely examines its characters and asks us to make similar observations of ourselves. Not least important, it’s a highly entertaining play, often delivering laughs while posing its questions. Those laughs soon fade away, as laughs will. Those questions, however, stay with you.” — New York Times
“A POTENT REVIVAL GERALDINE HUGHES COMPLETELY CAPTIVATES WITH HER COMPELLING PERFORMANCE, eyes half-closed and head swiveling gently, not looking directly at the audience. O’Reilly energetically presents Frank Sweeney as funny and likable, a fast-talking, sincere but misguided man. Rice, a once-brilliant surgeon but now a washed-up alcoholic, is well-played by Hogan with weary, sardonic detachment. Charlotte Moore has staged the three actors in separate pools of light. Although presenting individually, their stories overlap, and Friel’s lyrical, yet natural-sounding dialogue, including clever plays on words, paints vivid mental pictures of things the characters have experienced together. The tragedy that unspools in the second act is haunting.” — Associated Press