“I doubt that ‘Juno’ will receive a more eloquent or sympathetic production in my lifetime than this one… The Irish Rep never fails to hit the mark, but even for them, this is a truly distinguished effort.” –The Wall Street Journal
by Sean O’Casey
directed by Charlotte Moore
October 8, 2013 – January 26, 2014
The Irish Repertory Theatre returns to its roots with Sean O’Casey’s perfect fusion of realism and poetry, of somber tragedy and extravagant comedy jostling one another in his 1924 Dublin masterpiece, Juno and the Paycock. The play unsettles us and whirls us about! In one of the most memorable speeches in modern drama, Juno Boyle leaves us with O’Casey’s legacy: “Take away our hearts of stone and leave us with hearts o’flesh!”
Juno and the Paycock is Sean O’Casey’s extravagant portrait of the poetically comic and tragic world of a Dublin torn apart by the chaos of the Irish Civil War. The gestures of life are often broad, and the speech torrential as Jack Boyle and sidekick Joxer Daly’s drinking and posturing rise to comic heights! When the news of an unexpected inheritance arrives, the family sees a flame of hope as the heroic Juno Boyle dreams of taking war-crippled son, Johnny, and his sister, young Mary, out of their squalid surroundings into a better life. However, hopes are dashed and reality returns as a twist of fate brings their dreams crashing down around them.
“Ms. Moore’s production has an intuitive feeling for the manner in which the play’s characters can move between despair and hope, torpid depression and exuberance, with disarming fleetness. In one of the finest performances of her distinguished career on the New York stage, Ms. Smith-Cameron imbues her Juno with a steely pragmatism, but more important an emotional pliancy.” -New York Times
“In their respective directing and acting capacities… both Moore and O’Reilly are at the top of their form.” –Huffington Post
“seamless production and high caliber cast” –New York Irish Arts
“The Irish Rep’s current production of Sean O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock” is another reminder that it’s been hands-down the city’s best revival company for many years.” –EDGE New York
“A powerful production full of vigor, immediacy, and deep human complexity… The play warms our hearts as it breaks them.” -Exeunt Magazine
“as perfect an introduction to the Irish classic as you could ever ask for.” –Irish Central
“J. Smith-Cameron positively dazzles as the matriarch of the Boyle family . . . chilling, enraging, and beautiful.
–Talkin Broadway
“You’d have to look far for a better creative team — the company’s cofounder Charlotte Moore at the helm, and her partner Ciaran O’Reilly to play the full of braggadoccio erstwhile merchant seaman who’s the ‘Paycock’ of the title.” –CurtainUp
“Moore’s straightforward, seamless direction (aligning with O’Casey’s frank writing style) and her sure hand deftly drives both the play’s humorous early scenes and the tragic, weighty ones leading up to the resolution.– TheaterMania