NEW YORK—Playwright Conor McPherson's more recent successes on Broadway, The Seafarer and Shining City, were conventional plays in that their characters interacted with one another.
In Port Authority, three Dublin men, one young, one middle-aged, one old, engage in alternate monologues, gradually, in small increments, expressing their needs and their loves—and their disappointments.
The un-curtained stage reveals a large wooden bench, such as one would see at a bus depot or a ferryboat station, stretched across the center of the stage. The place is gloomy, with a long fluorescent lamp stretched high above, casting a yellowish glow.
The men enter one by one: Young Kevin (John Gallagher, Jr.); middle-aged Dermot, in his 40s (Brian d'Arcy James); finally the widower Joe, the oldest (Jim Norton). They pay no attention to each other, indeed, seem not to be aware of the others' presence; they sit.
It seems so bland that one wonders if anything is going to happen, if there is a play here.
One by one, each goes downstage and directly addresses the audience with a small portion of his story. Then he returns to his seat. They repeat the process, revealing only a bit at a time. There is nothing earth-shattering in any of it—just that certain fragments are apt to strike a note in certain of us in the audience, at certain times.
Kevin has left his family's home to strike out for himself. His dad was against Kevin's premature move for independence. But Kevin is determined to show his dad, to "make it."
The young man shares a place in the outskirts of Dublin with another young man and a young woman, Clare, who has a boyfriend. Presumably she will go off with that boyfriend. Only much later does Kevin experience that grinding in his gut that indicates he might have "missed the boat."
Dermot has recently gotten himself a good job. His boss is so well-pleased with him that he invites Dermot to fly first class to Los Angeles with a group of the employees to view a major sports event there. Yet Dermot has always sensed, somehow, that he really doesn't fit in. What does it matter? His wife will always be there for him. Dermot marvels that he came to have such a glamorous wife. She later tells him why. And it's not flattering.
The quiet Joe speaks of his deceased wife. Then, brightening, he tells how someone had recently sent him a snapshot of a young girl. The mention of this incident is a bit of a cliff-hanger, and one wants to know more. Joe will ultimately tell us. And it is heartbreaking when he does.
Under Henry Wishcamper's astute direction, the little incidents build gradually to reveal the most powerful emotions of these men. Their stories, though personal and individual, extrapolate to the universal. The acting is consummate in all three performers, with the marvelous Jim Norton encompassing greatness, in his underplayed, deceptively simple portrayal.
Although at first glance a chamber piece, Port Authority has symphonic impact.
Port Authority
Atlantic Theater Company Main Stage at the Linda Gross Theater
336 West 20th Street
Tickets: (212) 279-4200 or ticketcentral.com
Closes: June 22
Diana Barth writes and publishes New Millennium, an arts newsletter. She can be contacted at diabarth@juno.com
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