Playwright: Brendan Behan. At: Griffin Theatre Company at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont. Phone: 773-327-5252; $28. Runs through: Nov. 1
If Bertolt Brecht had been an Irishman, he'd still have been the 20th century's gloomiest playwrightJansenist-influenced Catholicism would have ensured thatbut he'd have developed a sense of humor, and thus, written plays very like this one by Brendan Behan. On one level, it's as grim as you'd expect from a story encompassing partisan conflicts, guerrilla warfare and border-crossed lovers. But every time that the mood gets too weighty, our author orders up an irreverent song, frequently incorporating his country's most sacred patriotic anthemsa call-and-response ballad between a prostitute and panderer sung to the tune of "Kevin Barry," say, or a hymn to selfishness warbled to "Danny Boy."
This juxtaposition of solemn docudrama and feel-good vaudeville raises a problem for producing theaters, most of whom opt to ignore the darker themes associated with the resurrection of long-dormant international hostilities by excising the discussions of past crimeson both sidescommitted during the pivotal 1916 uprising, and keeping light-hearted the plot premise of an English soldier taken prisoner as collateral for an IRA lad scheduled to be executed. But director Jonathan Berry is more courageous than that, retaining every line of Behan's text and instructing his 20-member ensemble to play the serious parts with brow-knitting gravity and the funny ones with the manic glee of a sacking army. And if we grow dizzy from the sudden mood shiftswell, my dears, ain't that the world we live in?
Granted, the warders of the Belfast brothel drafted into service as a detention cell are a jolly band of Hibernian archetypesEamonn McDonagh's windy patriot and Donna McGough's flinty proprietess ride herd on a household which includes a dotty old colonialist, a pair of pious fornicators, a flock of professional bawds ( male and female ) and a convent-raised colleen who falls for the young captive doomed to become the pawn in old battles fought by generals of dim memory.
For those of scholarly inclinations, Stefka Mihaylova's dramaturgical notes for this Griffin Theatre production offer some thought-provoking insight into the roots of civil unrest, in Irelandor anywhere else, for that matter ( its connection with depressed economies, for example ) . Other audience members can relax and enjoy the high-stepping dances and rollicking ditties ( "We're here because we're queer," carol the proud drag-boys ) . In this indifferent universe, says Behan, you take your pleasures where you find them.