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Dublin Carol
By Conor McPherson
Directed by Amy Morton
At Steppenwolf’s Upstairs Theatre
1650 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL
Wednesdays thru Sundays at 7:30 pm
Saturdays at 3 pm
Running time is 85 minutes without intermission
Through January 4, 2009
Effects of drinking powerfully presented by William Petersen
Just in case you’re getting too much sweet cheer and good will from all those Christmas plays, get to Steppenwolf Theatre to see Chicago legend and TV star William Petersen speak about the loneliness of the addicted drinker. Playwright Conor McPherson, today’s leading Irish playwright, sure knows about alcoholism himself being a victim. He paints a dismal portrait of a life ruined by the drink. William Petersen deftly delivers several monologues about the devastating physical and social and psychological effects of spending one’s life drunk. This is a riveting work with extremely powerful performances from Petersen, Nicole Wiesner and Stephen Luois Grush.
Set in contemporary Dublin, Ireland, “Dublin Carol” finds a middle aged John (William Petersen) in his back office (terrific set design by Kevin Depinet) at the funeral home he works at as a funeral director. His new assistant is twenty year-old Mark (Stephen Louis Grush) who stops by after the two finished a funeral. It is Christmas Eve. John insists Mark has tea; John nips at his bottle. Mark is a polite listener as John tells his story about how he became a funeral director. He spouts his personal philosophy of life in a richly colored speech that vividly describes the pitfalls of getting to like the drink too much. McPherson mixes self-deprecating humor with the pains of being perpetually drunk. Petersen is quite believable as the wounded, lonely drunk lamenting his choice of the drink over his family. He acknowledges his gratitude to the mortician for giving him a job when he was down and out. Mark listens politely to John’s cautionary tale. Mark departs.
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John arrives back to his office after buying another bottle to find Mary (Nicole Wiesner), his estranged daughter. Neither has seen one another in ten years. After several uncomfortable moments, we learn that Mary has come to inform her dad that his wife (Mary’s mother) is dying of cancer in a hospital. The two exchanges their life stories through long and riveting emotional and richly textured speeches that vividly dramatize how drank can both destroy a man and his family. If I had a teen, I’d get them to see this show just to hear these exchanges so maybe alcohol won’t be so enticing to them.
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These painfully honest confessions by John and Mary are exquisitely performed by Petersen and the terrific Wiesner. We see how Mary presents to John a chance to escape the pain and guilt of the past by doing the right thing now. Will John lift the burden of his past? This powerful show will knock you sober as it drives home how loneliness and solitude are the most painful effects of alcoholism. John advises Mark to select intimacy with his girl over the isolation of the drink. The truthfulness of this marvelously acted play looms large. “Dublin Carol” presents an important message. You’ll be riveted to your seat for 85 minutes.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast.
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2008
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