It intrigues me that the two great classic Irish playwrights, John Millington Synge and Sean O'Casey, complemented each other so neatly in their choice of subjects and settings. Synge's most famous plays chronicle the rural life of the Irish countryfolk, while O'Casey's great works dig deep into the lives of the working poor of Dublin.
The Shaw production of O'Casey's classic drama, Juno and the Paycock, was as powerful as one could ask, a fitting tribute to one of the greats of the world of drama -- and to the terrible fates of the men and women he wrote into this play.
O'Casey himself insisted that laughter must be used to knock down things as they are, so better things can grow in their place. It's of a piece with this belief that the most unnerving scenes in this play are interwoven with the most comical ones, and that the last word of the script is comic and not tragic.
The Shaw's Artistic Director, Jackie Maxwell, directed this play herself and her Director's Note was a heartfelt examination of connections between the world of the play in the 1920s and the city of Belfast where she later grew up during "the Troubles".
With the aid of a simple but evocative set by designer Peter Hartwell, the tenements of Dublin came to life on the stage. The series of suspended windows above the walls, leaning over the room (and lit with varying degrees and colours of light) emphasized the crowded, cramped conditions of life in the poor districts.
The women become the heroes of the play, with the men -- both seen and unseen -- not perhaps the villains but certainly the source of much of the misery that pervades life. Jim Mezon as Captain Boyle and Benedict Campbell as his sidekick Joxer Daly typified the irresponsibility of men who were drinkers first and workers a long way second, or not at all. Their scenes provide the comedy of the piece, both verbal and physical, and Mezon and Campbell did fine work in playing off each other. Charlie Gallant as Johnny showed another kind of irresponsibility, that of the young who recklessly commit their lives to the service of one idea or another without fully understanding the consequences of what they preach. Fear and terror were etched on his face right from the beginning, before we fully found out the causes, and stayed that way throughout.
Against these thoughtless men O'Casey contrasts the women. Mary Boyle and her mother, Juno, work hard to bring in what little money the household can earn. Juno in particular struggles to hold her family together, not just financially, but as a family. It's a struggle she's destined to lose, the specific tragic fate of so many Irish women known to the writer. In the end, Johnny suffers the fate of execution at the hands of the violent activists, while Juno and Mary must set out to make a new home for themselves elsewhere, leaving the Captain and Joxer to fend for themselves.
In this tragic denouement, the two women emerge as the two most powerful presences on the stage. Marla McLean brings great dignity and quiet strength to her portrayal of the disgraced daughter, pregnant out of wedlock. Mary Haney's performance of Juno is full of life and energy throughout the play, a vivid portrayal of a woman caught between opposing forces but refusing to be crushed or beaten down. Haney rose to heights that were simply beyond praise in her final scene, her repetition of Mrs. Tancred's earlier lament for the death of her son. This speech, halting, with heart-breaking pauses, was delivered in absolute pin-drop silence as the whole audience were drawn deeply into her sorrow.
Although the enemy is totally different, and the two writers were totally different too, Juno Boyle here definitely touches hands with Maurya in Riders to the Sea by Synge. The poetry and music of the English language as spoken by the Irish reaches its apex in these two magnificent death laments.
Juno and the Paycock will never be a popular play, but it's certainly a powerful drama, and the Shaw company with Maxwell directing gave it a powerful performance that will be long remembered.
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