Not so much a ghost story as a story about ghosts, Conor McPherson’s play was hailed as a modern classic when it first materialised in 1997. This revival is directed by the playwright himself and boasts the star power of Irish actor Brendan Gleeson as Jack, the wryly melancholic central figure who carries the weight of missed opportunity on his burly shoulders.
He is one of four men who meet in their local pub in rural Ireland and attempt to impress a newcomer – a woman who has moved from Dublin and is being shown around the locality by Finbar (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, who needs to dial down his performance) who may have designs on her. That’s your lot for the plot but it doesn’t matter. McPherson is far more interested in the interaction between precisely drawn characters, invoked through dialogues and the silences between them.
On Rae Smith’s comfortingly shabby set the lonely barflies, including Jim (Seán McGinley) and publican Brendan (Owen McDonnell), drink and gossip about the new arrival Valerie (Kate Philips) and her relationship with married local property developer and all-purpose snake-in-the-grass Finbar. Stories of The Faerie Road and apparitions are mildly chilling but can’t compete with Valerie’s own heartrending tale about a phone call from her dead daughter that stops everyone in their tracks until Jim breaks the silence with one of the funniest lines in the play.
Gleeson delivers his final monologue with a subtle naturalism that sounds as unscripted as it is desolate, yet the riptide of humour never dwindles into mawkishness. Tiny details – the way Gleeson counts his change, a half pint glass filled with white wine – accumulate to paint a portrait of lonely men that seems deceptively slight but is actually extraordinarily resonant.
THE WEIR PLAYS AT THE HAROLD PINTER THEATRE TO DECEMBER 6