Aidan Kelly, as Joe, in Sebastian Barry's 'The Pride of Parnell Street.' Joe, a once petty thief but honorable husband and father, faces a tragic decline after his marriage ends. (Patrick Richmond)
Nowhere are his talents better exhibited than in his play, “The Pride of Parnell Street,” the story of a married couple, Janet (Mary Murray) and Joe (Aidan Kelly). One cannot help but feel empathy and sympathy for these two—all the more remarkable because they hail from Dublin’s underside of society.
Joe is what is known as a Midday Man. He rises at midday, then goes about the Dublin streets looking for parked autos that have been left unlocked. He enters, grabs anything of value, then peddles the items on Parnell Street with the Afternoon Man. That is how he ekes out a living for his family.
Mary is mother to their three young sons. The oldest is tragically killed in a bus accident when he is only 6. The couple mourns their loss, heightened by the pain of being unable to even afford a decent marker for the lad’s grave. The grave is located in the Angels’ Acre in Glasnevin [a cemetery], reserved for stillborn babies and “small childer.”
Constructed of alternating monologues, the play begins mildly enough with Janet’s story of their early days together—“them days, long long ago”—and gradually increases in tension and substance. She tells us that the Irish love their football. (What we call soccer.)
When the games are going well for Ireland, the Dubliners are of high spirits. After a victory, Janet says, “The whole of O’Connell Street would be like a bleeding party.” As for Joe, it was as if he himself had participated on Ireland’s winning team.
But one night, when things go badly for the Irish, Joe turns violent toward his beloved wife. This unforeseen incident—they had known each other since Janet was 4, and Joe “was a big fella 10 going round the place”—causes her to leave him. (Of note: The play was originally written in a shorter version as part of an Amnesty International project on domestic violence.)
Joe feels nothing but love for Janet, in spite of his one outburst. He worships her, wants her back. She is as beautiful as a Hollywood star. She is the “pride a Parnell Street.” Where Janet’s rejection leads Joe makes up the heart of the story.
Joe’s mother pays a visit to Janet and hints of Joe’s need for his wife, but Janet will have none of it. Playwright Barry’s description of Joe’s mother is pitch perfect—an aggressive woman who, however, hesitates to cross the Iffey River to visit Janet on the other side of Dublin, “for fear of having to show her passport,” Janet remarks ironically.
The play is rife with humor, as when Janet says of her mother-in-law, “If there’s ever a vacancy in the diplomatic service, I hope they don’t fill it with her.” Joe’s failed negotiation with a policeman in a cemetery is another example of dark humor. The ability to leap from darkness to light in a split second is, arguably, part of the Irish makeup.
Joe’s tragic end appears engineered by his own weaknesses plus unfortunate circumstances. As Janet sadly remarks, “We didn’t have much of a life maybe, but it was a Dublin life, and every Dublin life is a life worth living,” and mourns for what might have been for them.
Both actors, Mary Murphy and Aidan Kelly, give brilliant performances, with Ms. Murphy, particularly, showing us a myriad of nuances of Janet’s character.
Under the caring and perceptive direction of Jim Culleton, artistic director of Dublin’s Fishamble: The New Play Company, “The Pride of Parnell Street” has already performed many successful engagements across Europe and will continue elsewhere after its New York engagement.
Contributions by set and costume designer, Sabine Dargent, and lighting designer, Mark Galione, are subtle and unobtrusive, as is fitting.
”The Pride of Parnell Street” is stark, moving, and altogether magnificent.
The Pride of Parnell Street
59E59 Theaters
59 East 59th Street
Running time: l hour, 40 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: 212-279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com
Closes: Oct. 4
Diana Barth writes and publishes “New Millennium,” an arts newsletter. She also contributes to Totaltheater.com.
