Rural Ireland in 1957 is the location for John B. Keane's sobering (and haunting) drama Sive.
Mena (Fiana Toibin), a strong, hard woman approaching middle age, finds herself stuck in a rut. Over the years the love and passion between her and husband Mike (Aidan Redmond) has cooled somewhat. Having his mother (Terry Donnelly), who deeply despises her daughter-in-law living with them doesn't help. Nor does always having to watch their precarious finances, or take care of Sive (Wrenn Schmidt), an out-of wedlock child by Mike's dead sister.
Things changes abruptly when Thomasheen Sea Rua (Patrick Fitzgerald), the local matchmaker (one of the few times such a character isn't played with warmth and kindness), arrives with news of a proposed match between Sive and Sean Dota (Christopher Joseph Jones), a wealthy, aging, and somewhat lecherous man with one foot in the grave.
Mena initially dismisses the idea, only to reconsider when she learns she and her husband will be amply rewarded if the marriage takes place. Mike likewise at first resists, but is also swayed by the promise of money, as well as the fact that this will rid them of Sive's boyfriend Liam (Mark Thornton), who's late cousin was the Sive's father.
A situation that could be played entirely for laughs, Keane has instead fashioned a bleak character study of people who just want something to show for their years of struggle, no matter who must suffer for it. The entire play is akin to watching a train wreck. One wishes things could be different, but we're so riveted by what's taking place that we can't turn away.
Toibin is revoltingly fascinating as a woman determined to get the rewards she feels due her; telling one lie after another while coaxing, pleading and finally demanding Sive accede to the match. Also excellent is Fitzgerald as the amoral matchmaker. Definitely the saddest scene in the play is when Thomasheen tells Mike and Mena that people like them (himself included) have no business thinking about love, something that neither attempts to disagree.
Redmond is very good as a man caught between the wife he still cares for and his loyalty to his mother. Donnelly plays said mother with both charm and malice (the latter when defending her turf against Mena). Schmidt nicely fits the role of the virginal Sive, caught in a situation she cannot control.
Direction by Ciaran O'Reilly is quite good, as is the homey and lived-in feel of the set by Charles Corcoran. Costumes by Martha Hally and lighting by Jason Lyons also work well. An extra treat is the musical performances by James Barry and Donie Carroll as traveling itinerant tinkers, who add a spice of bitter humor and local flavor to the story.
Sive
Irish Repertory Theatre
Address: 132 West 22nd Street
Tickets: 212-727-2737 or www.irishrep.org
Closes: November 11, 2007
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication The Stage.
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