by Sean Callan
The Toronto Irish Players scored a rousing triumph at the 16th Acting Irish International Theatre Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba, last month. The award for the outstanding production in the adjudicated competition went to them for A Skull in Connemara by Martin McDonagh directed by Lucy Carabine. The award for best performance by a male actor also went to the City of “Tee-Oh.” It was awarded to Stephen Farrell for his flashing neon sign like portrayal of Martin, a mischievous, intellectually challenged but crafty, smart-mouthed post adolescent man child. No sooner did Farrell appear on stage dressed in his Manchester United shirt and sucking on a lollipop than he had the audience drooling in the palm of his hand.
“This was a high energy production containing all the elements of theater—staging, lights, costume, set and the characters stayed connected to each other. The truth of the comedy came through the characters and not the other way about,” commented David Warburton, one of the adjudicators.Leenane Trilogy
A Skull in Connemara is the second in the Leenane Trilogy of Martin McDonagh’s plays set in Connemara. At first blush it does not appear to have much to recommend it. It centers on Mick Dowd a local grave digger whose official job is to disinter old bones from the town’s small graveyard to make room for new bodies. What he does with the bones is anyone’s guess and as the play progresses, we find out. Anyone interred for seven or more years is fair game to be dug up. This year it is Mick’s responsibility to dig up the bones of his deceased wife who died in a car crash—or did she? Local gossips wonder if Mick bashed her on the head before the crash occurred. And again, as the play evolves we get the answer to that.
Runners up for best production were Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness, directed by Matthew Singletary, performed by Shapeshifters theatrical group Chicago, and Love in the Title by Hugh Leonard, directed by Jean Gordon Ryon, performed by Rochester Irish Players. Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me chronicles the plight of three men, an American, an Irishman and an Englishman (Adam, Edward and Michael) held prisoner for years by faceless Arabs in the basement of a house in Lebanon. The light is on all the time and they never know if it is day or night. As they strive to maintain their sanity they survive by the use of fantasy, humor, and playacting, and not giving in to their captors.
Adjudicators
In opting for A Skull as the winner, the adjudicating judges John Gleeson, David Warburton, and Kevin Prokosh preferred the romp of well-delivered slapstick and skullduggery to the solid and difficult-to-deliver serious drama of Someone and the poignant down memory lane trip of Love. Gleeson is Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Center for Celtic Studies, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; Warburton is a professional local Winnipeg actor/director, and Prokosh is Theatre Critic for the Winnipeg Free Press, a local newspaper.
In addition to winner Farrell, the nominees for best performance by a male actor were Mark Whelan as Mick in A Skull in Connemara, and Ollie Oliver as Edward in Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me. Nominees for best performance by a female were Barbara Taylor as Maryjohnny in Skull, Rebecca Spindler as Triona and Loreli Mellon as Cat in Love in the Title. Mellon received the award.
Nominees for best performance by a female in a supporting role were Cara Campbell as Miss Manning in The Patrick Pearse Motel by Hugh Leonard, directed by Linda Kalturnyk, performed by the Tara Players, Winnipeg; Bridget Christianson as Flora in ‘Attaboy, Mr. Synge by Deirdre Kinahan, directed by Georgina Chapman, and co-directed by Tom Kearne, performed by Gaelic Park Players of Chicago; and Neasa McCann who received the award for her role as Kitty, the cook in Salute the Servant by Walter Macken, directed by Jim Reid, performed by Holding Court Theatre, Dublin.
The outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role award went to Jonathon Musser of Shapeshifters, Chicago, for his role as Adam in Someone. The other nominees were Mick Kenna as Conor in Gaelic Park’s Mr. Synge, and Sidney Gray as Hoolihan in The Patrick Pearse Motel.
Special Award
This was the third year in a row that Holding Court Theater has participated in the festival and the group has been invited to become a permanent member of the AIITF core membership. For putting on Salute, they received a special Adjudicators’ award for enacting a piece of Irish theatrical history. The play was originally written in Irish in the early 1940s and then translated to English. This was the first time the play was performed in North America.
The week-long competition was staged at the 200-seat Tom Hendry Theatre – MTC Warehouse, a delightful state-of-the art facility in downtown Winnipeg, a prairie city of about 700,000. Performers and playgoers had to contend with record setting cold for May that included episodes of torrential rain, snow, and sleet as they traipsed back and forth from hotel to theatre. Next year’s festival will be sponsored by Shapeshifters and will be in Chicago in May.
