Silent @ The Irish Arts Center

Silent, now playing at the Irish Arts Center, is a one man show exploring the life of Tino McGoldrig.  Written and performed by Pat Kinevane, it has a unique tone, wistful and lyrical where many would be self-pitying.   Silent comes to New York with excellent notices and awards, and proves quickly it deserves the advanced press.

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Tino is short for Valentino, his father being a great fan of film icon Rudolph Valentino.   This tie to old silent movies gives life to Tino’s storytelling.  He speaks not only verbally but physically.  The character often loses himself in the language of movement – so integral to the old silents.  Tino is wildly expressive and in moments it seems only movement can give voice to his thoughts and demons.

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Pat Kinevane as Tino McGoldrig

With this ability, Pat Kinevane breathes a unique life into the character of Tino McGoldrig; giving him the ability to engage the audience on multiple emotional levels.

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Silent is, at least in part, an explanation of how Tino had, and then lost, the middle class life.  Central to the story is Pearse, Tino’s brother, a gay young man who was bullied by the boys at school and, more cruelly, his own mother.  Mr. Kinevane inhabits the character of “mother” with no mercy.  If there were reasons for the mother’s mistreatment of Pearse, we don’t see them.  If this were a play about Pearse, this would be a problem.  But because we are looking at mother through Tino's eyes it is an explanation.

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Pearse’s later suicide weighs on Tino, ruining his relationship with his mother and leaving him progressively more guilt ridden.  He finds solace in the bottle, which corrodes his marriage.  Or does marriage drive him to drink?  Or does he just drink?  Whatever he cause, the slide ultimately leads to a mental breakdown.

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Questions arise and then hang in the air, but the character dances among them.  He chooses to answer some.  The others he sidesteps in flights of memory and snippets of Silent movies played in his head and acted out on stage.  Mr. Kinevane’s Tino looks, at first glance, like any homeless person you might see, albeit a little cleaner.  But when the light tightens onto his face and his expressive eyes, Tino is transformed into a performer on the silver screen.  The grime and tattered clothes fade away, and Tino grows in the darkness.

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Silent is a terrific piece of theater.  The direction, by Jim Culleton, is more leisurely paced than a current audience might expect or be comfortable with.  It is more paced at the speed of old silent movies, quick action but lingered reaction.  It is supported by wonderful lighting design, created jointly by the Director and the Writer/Actor.  To watch Silent is to step into Tino’s world and be entranced.

Silent

Playwright: Pat Kinevane

Director: Jim Culleton

Cast: Pat Kinevane

website

Julie Feeney: Live Off Broadway for 10 Nights

Julie Feeney, the dramatic, flamboyant Irish star and prodigious singer, conductor, and performer is set to touch down in New York to perform for 10 nights off-Broadway (April 25 – May 6) in a music and theatrical show at the Irish Arts Center, to be co-directed by PS122’s Vallejo Gantner.Winner of the Choice Music Prize (Ireland’s equivalent of the Mercury Prize) Feeney made her New York debut at Joe’s Pub in 2011 before the US release of her album ‘pages’. Since then she has quickly amassed critical acclaim for her uncompromising sound that both Village Voice and Time Out New York called “captivating,” drawing comparisons to everyone from Sufjan Stevens and Elvis Costello to Lady Gaga and Bjork.

Feeney’s music, melding elements of Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, June Tabor and Philip Glass, is complemented by an ethereal stage show that features outrageous fashion and unconventional instrumentation arranged by Feeney. The highly distinguished Feeney has been called "charming, urbane and dreamy" by the New York Times, "the Emerald Isle's Original" by the Washington Post and "an eccentric pop genius" by Hot Press.

At the Irish Arts Center each night, Feeney will be joined by a small orchestra of strings, singers, recorders, sticks, guitar, keyboards, and trumpet.

KEY DETAILSWho: Julie FeeneyWhere: Irish Arts Center (553 West 51st Street [between 10th and 11th Avenues]; Subway C, E to 50th Street
When: April 25th – May 6th, 2012 | Time:  Wednesday to Sunday at 8pmTickets: $20/$18 | Booking: 866 811 4111 irishartscenter.org More info: www.juliefeeney.com

Mimic: A Hypnotic Story of Longing from Ireland

Mimic, making it’s US Premiere at the Irish Arts Center now through March 20th, is a fascinating melding of character, performance art and the Irish tradition of storytelling.  It is a one man show that is engaging and hypnotic.

Mimic is written, composed and performed by Raymond Scannell.   He accompanies himself on the piano as he tells the story of Mimic, an adopted son of an Irish family.  Mimic is a young man, Julian Neary, who is an adapt impersonator of others, both celebrities and family members.  He uses this talent to entertain friends, family and schoolmates. 

But Julian’s talent to entertain is not welcomed by his family, particularly a strict father who keeps the family stuck in a 1950s mindset and style.  Enjoying the piano and music, he is given the basement (“banished” – as he says), where both he and his sister take advantage of the separate entry.  Julian and his adopted sister have a mutual attraction that can only lead to trouble.

This is the set-up of the show.  Julian’s abilities ultimately lead him out of his family’s spiritual home and into fast friends, parties and drugs.  Eventually Julian physically leaves Ireland to go to England – where he reunites with his sister, and then to the United States.

After a stint in the states, he returns to an Ireland a decade or so in the future.  Societal norms have changed, and Julian struggles to adjust.

Mimic is the story of alienation and loss of grounding in the face of culture change.  As such, it is a perfect metaphor for the changes in Ireland, from basket case to Celtic Tiger to economic bust.  These changes occurred so swiftly and so removed from the Irish people’s actions, that a cultural whiplash was bound to occur.  It is this view of emotion that Mimic mines effectively.

Accompanied by a piano, a raft of impersonations and a gift of story telling, the story of Mimic is engaging.  It is presented quietly, blurring the line between reality and fiction to where one often thinks Mr. Scannell is telling his own story, his gift for voices and his flashes of emotion are woven into the story so well.

Mimic is directed and designed by Tom Creed.  And, although it is a one man show, the lighting and music plays an integral part in the telling of Julian Neary’s story.  Mimic is well worth your time.

Mimic: Through March 20

Irish Arts Center (Web Site)

Director: Tom Creed

Writer / Composer / Cast: Raymond Scannell