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Rapture Theatre presents
Shining City
by Conor McPherson
Directed by Michael Eman
Greenwich Theatre
22nd & 26th April, 2008
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A review by David Hermann for EXTRA! EXTRA!
John (Michael Glenn Murphy) is a man drowning in guilt. Guilt over the death of his wife in a car crash. Guilt because of the violent argument they had just before the crash. Guilt for the short affair he entertained while his wife was still alive. Indeed, John feels so intensely guilty that he has started to see ghosts. Ian (Rory Murray), his therapist, is a former priest turned atheist who, himself, is caught in an unhappy relationship and realises his own need for change through John’s heartbreaking confessions. In this riveting revival of Conor McPherson’s Shining City, Director Michael Eman proves yet again his previously remarked upon talent for “[assembling] a very fine cast” (The Glasgow Herald). As darkness descends on the auditorium and William Winter’s sparse, precise and hugely atmospheric lighting illuminates Karen Tennent’s no-frills, realistic living-room set, something strange and ghostly happens: Michael Glenn Murphy’s face with its cupid’s bow lips and harlequin eyebrows appears so animated, so accurate in its minutiae, so inviting of our compassion, that the rest of the stage and everything that surrounds it seems to disappear entirely, sucked into Murphy’s hypnotic physiognomy like light into a black hole. McPherson’s uniquely rhythmical and fluid text, combined with such an exceptionally gifted actor’s softly undulating delivery has a spellbinding effect. The audience sits transfixed as the harrowing story unfolds entirely out of Murphy’s face. Those I spoke to after the show said they had never seen anything like it. Michael Glenn Murphy is only three things: mesmerizing, mesmerizing and, above all, mesmerizing. Before the interval, Rory Murray, in his role as Ian, provides a humble and believable on-stage recipient of what is essentially John’s monologue, with the exception of his scene with (soon-to-be-ex-) fiancée Neasa (Melanie MacHugh), a break-up scene of such intensity that one wants to look away with embarrassment and compassion. The second half, then, propels Murray into the foreground as we are invited to witness exactly how Ian plans to go about his escape from unhappiness. Even though Rory Murray remained credible and sharp in his recital at all times, my discerning companion and I were bewildered by his peculiar habit of freezing in mid-motion at the oddest moments, a minor irritation that Eman and Murray could have ironed out in a couple of sessions. David Walshe, too, deserves a mention. His portrayal of grimy, shifty, chavvy and yet strangely tender rent-boy Laurence is effortlessly truthful and a pleasure to watch. Without doubt, Rapture Theatre, in line with its dazzling past, delivers a top-standard production that will enrich any theatre-goer’s treasure-chest of fine memories. The only objection I had to Conor McPherson’s superb study of guilt and redemption is nothing to do with the play itself, nor with its brilliant production by Rapture Theatre, but with its sensationalist advertisement as an ‘urban ghost story’. It is largely misleading and doesn’t do justice, at all, to this finely spun psychological drama. One sits there, half expecting genre-specific moments of fright á la Lady in Black, instead of settling into the story as it really is. The theme of the ghost would have been all the more intriguing and eerie if it hadn’t been waved in one’s face from the outset. So, should you ever be lucky enough to come across a production of Shining City, please do what you can to erase the notion of ‘ghost-story’ from your mind. Anyway: wrongly advertised or not, the beautiful and rare thing about this production is that you don’t realise how much it gets to you until the next day, when its themes and the memory of its emotional impact resurface again and again as you go about your daily tasks. Phew, what a ride... Riveting, unsettling, stunning!
Box Office 0208 858 7755 Evenings; 7.30pm £20, £18 £16 (£18, £16, £14) Matinee; Sat 2.30pm 18, £16, £14 (£16, £14, £12) Content guidance: Contains strong language.
Greenwich Theatre
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