Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Irish February

Outside Mullingar at San Diego Repertory Theatre

Manny Fernandes and Carla Harting
Manny Fernandes and Carla Harting

The Rep has already extended its run of John Patrick Shanley’s Irish love story, and with good reason. The play and the production are a treat.

Outside Mullingar

Mullingar’s a bit reminiscent of Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly. Both plays have around 90 minutes to bring a man and a woman, apparently at deep odds, together.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Unlike the plays of, say, Martin McDonaugh — where the grim gets grimmer and then turns pro — Mullingar has a kind of safety net: no matter what its four characters say or threaten to do, things aren’t as grim as they seem.

Shanley plays with the notion of “so near yet so far away.” The Reillys and Muldoons have neighboring farms outside Killucan, Ireland. Thirty years ago, Tony Reilly sold a 40-meter strip of land to Chris Muldoon for 200 pounds. Ever since, to reach the frontage road, the Reillys must open a gate, pass through the Muldoons’ property, and open another gate.

But why did Tony sell the little strip of land? And why won’t he bequeath the farm to his long-suffering son Anthony? Tony says it’s because he’s “half a ghost and mad as the full moon” and doesn’t draw strength from the land.

And why did Anthony, on his 13th birthday, push young Rosemary, age six, to the ground shortly before Tony made the deal? The families have lived side-by-side for 30 years with official answers to questions, and they’re dead wrong. As a result, the Reillys and Muldoons don’t know the first thing about each other.

So, Rosemary, now 36 and never married, sees “disaster where others see green fields”; Anthony, 42 and lamb-innocent, hears voices in those self-same fields but will not heed their call.

The playwright has 90 minutes to lock the farm’s gates and thicken the bottleneck in between. Then he must somehow push them down and cinch the deal in the final sentence. If you don’t look too closely at some fibs here and there, he makes it happen.

Mullingar is a rural village west of Dublin famous for its lakes and Mullingar pewter. For the Rep, scenic designer Giulio Cesare Perrone effectively blurs the line between inside and outside. Lopped trunks of white-barked trees serve as the legs for a table for one scene; the outdoors for another, and also suggest bollard-like gates blocking the right-of-way.

A gray-patina and chipped paint, enhanced by Sherrice Mojgani’s lighting and her and David Scott’s projections, add to the atmosphere.

Anastasia Pautova’s layered costumes, by their looks alone, lower room temperature to an Irish February.

Director Todd Salovey smartly cast Rep favorites Mike Genovese and his wife Ellen Crawford as Tony Reilly and Aoife Muldoon. They give the old neighbors an ingrained familiarity that goes beyond acting.

Though they have some vocally strident moments, Manny Fernandes and Carla Harting fare quite well as Anthony Reilly and Rosemary Muldoon, the ugly ducklings who may find their inner swan.

San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown San Diego. Playing through February 21.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Memories of bonfires amid the pits off Palm

Before it was Ocean View Hills, it was party central
Next Article

Live Five: Rebecca Jade, Stoney B. Blues, Manzanita Blues, Blame Betty, Marujah

Holiday music, blues, rockabilly, and record releases in Carlsbad, San Carlos, Little Italy, downtown
Manny Fernandes and Carla Harting
Manny Fernandes and Carla Harting

The Rep has already extended its run of John Patrick Shanley’s Irish love story, and with good reason. The play and the production are a treat.

Outside Mullingar

Mullingar’s a bit reminiscent of Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly. Both plays have around 90 minutes to bring a man and a woman, apparently at deep odds, together.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Unlike the plays of, say, Martin McDonaugh — where the grim gets grimmer and then turns pro — Mullingar has a kind of safety net: no matter what its four characters say or threaten to do, things aren’t as grim as they seem.

Shanley plays with the notion of “so near yet so far away.” The Reillys and Muldoons have neighboring farms outside Killucan, Ireland. Thirty years ago, Tony Reilly sold a 40-meter strip of land to Chris Muldoon for 200 pounds. Ever since, to reach the frontage road, the Reillys must open a gate, pass through the Muldoons’ property, and open another gate.

But why did Tony sell the little strip of land? And why won’t he bequeath the farm to his long-suffering son Anthony? Tony says it’s because he’s “half a ghost and mad as the full moon” and doesn’t draw strength from the land.

And why did Anthony, on his 13th birthday, push young Rosemary, age six, to the ground shortly before Tony made the deal? The families have lived side-by-side for 30 years with official answers to questions, and they’re dead wrong. As a result, the Reillys and Muldoons don’t know the first thing about each other.

So, Rosemary, now 36 and never married, sees “disaster where others see green fields”; Anthony, 42 and lamb-innocent, hears voices in those self-same fields but will not heed their call.

The playwright has 90 minutes to lock the farm’s gates and thicken the bottleneck in between. Then he must somehow push them down and cinch the deal in the final sentence. If you don’t look too closely at some fibs here and there, he makes it happen.

Mullingar is a rural village west of Dublin famous for its lakes and Mullingar pewter. For the Rep, scenic designer Giulio Cesare Perrone effectively blurs the line between inside and outside. Lopped trunks of white-barked trees serve as the legs for a table for one scene; the outdoors for another, and also suggest bollard-like gates blocking the right-of-way.

A gray-patina and chipped paint, enhanced by Sherrice Mojgani’s lighting and her and David Scott’s projections, add to the atmosphere.

Anastasia Pautova’s layered costumes, by their looks alone, lower room temperature to an Irish February.

Director Todd Salovey smartly cast Rep favorites Mike Genovese and his wife Ellen Crawford as Tony Reilly and Aoife Muldoon. They give the old neighbors an ingrained familiarity that goes beyond acting.

Though they have some vocally strident moments, Manny Fernandes and Carla Harting fare quite well as Anthony Reilly and Rosemary Muldoon, the ugly ducklings who may find their inner swan.

San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown San Diego. Playing through February 21.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader