A BEACON OF NOPE
A secluded matriarch, a remote cottage on the Irish coast, and a haunting family secret. The key components of an Irish drama are here. Yet despite strong performances and a haunting ambience, The Beacon leaves its audience searching the horizon after the final bow.
First presented at Garry Hynes’ distinguished Druid Theatre Company in Galway, The Beacon by Nancy Harris is now playing in its North American premiere at Irish Rep. The Beacon takes full advantage of this modest slice of a Broadway-tier venue in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
The Beacon invites its audience to attend a tense family reunion when Colm (Zach Appelman) brings his new and young American wife Bonnie (Ayana Workman) for a honeymoon at the family’s summer cottage in a small West Cork town on an island off the Irish coast to meet his widowed mother, Beiv (Kate Mulgrew), a renowned Irish painter who has taken solitude and permanent residence at the dwelling. The house is under renovation as Beiv opts for a studio with floor-to-ceiling windows.
Beiv was given ownership of the cottage upon the passing of her husband. While the circumstances of her husband’s death are public knowledge, Colm has always suspected something lies under the surface regarding his father’s drowning: The ocean was calm that day and his father was an experienced sailor.
Here to add some levity are Donal (Sean Bell), a resident of the small town who shared a deep friendship with Colm for the summers he got to see him, and Ray (David Mattar Merten), a late-in-the-play podcaster chasing the internet virality surrounding the husband’s death.
Kate Mulgrew commands every moment as Beiv and rightly so, as the play’s action takes place in her cottage’s living room, which doubles as her art studio. We meet and confront Beiv on her own paint-splattered turf. An accomplished artist used to getting her way, she can be tightly focused and yet off in her own quadrant at the same time.
Appleman does well with the role of a son in need of closure. despite some clichés for dialogue (“You don’t know her like I know her” Colm warns his newlywed). Workman is delightful as the wife in over her head, however the character’s turn in the second act is confusing and doesn’t resolve in any satisfactory way. Donal and Ray offer diversion and temptation for our family in turmoil but without objectives that compliment, mirror, or are related to the mystery of Beiv’s late husband.
It is clearly Beiv’s story that Harris wants to tell; indeed, Beiv is the only character with any form of resolution. Holding a dark secret takes its toll on a person and Beiv is keenly aware of the peculiarities of her husband’s death and even taunts her spectators with a skull placed out on the porch. While not quite an “Alas, poor Yorick” moment for Kate, seeing as she is playing the character who knows all the secrets here, perhaps now we know what mischief Shakespeare’s Claudius may have gotten into had it been he who discovered the late jester’s remains instead of his nephew.
With restrained use of a projection screen and eerie illumination, set and lighting designer Colm McNally creates a spooky ambiance as the family drama plays out. Orla Long’s costumes evoke a modern aesthetic without locking the show into any era in time. Director Marc Atkinson Borrull keeps a tight pace and balances dramatic moments with well-timed organic laugh lines.
Despite a few stranded boats that don’t quite make it back to harbor, the evening is buoyed by our cast’s strong performances, particularly Mulgrew and Appleman. Just try not to get lost in the melodramatic mist while you make your way to The Beacon.
photos by Carol Rosegg
The Beacon
Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd St
Francis J Greenburger Mainstage
ends on November 3, 2024 EXTENDED to November 24, 2024
for tickets, call 212.727.2737 or visit Irish Rep