Playwright: Adapted by Frank Mahon and Milisa Pacelli from Maurice Walsh's . The Green Rushes. At: Chicago Downstairs Theatre, 175 N. State. Phone: 800-745-3000; $42.50-$49.50. Runs through: May 24
For years, the baroque golden Sphinx heads that adorn the walls in the basement level of the Chicago Theatre have been staring down on dust and emptiness. That seems almost criminal, given the lavishly appointed lobby and jewel of a theater space that tucked away here just below street level. The 250-seat house is a gem.
But in the epic, emerald sprawl o' stories that mesh to form The Quiet Man Tales, the place finally has a show worthy of its posh amenities. With a cast of 12, impeccably polished production values MSG Entertainment has spent recession-defying sums in producing the show.
On the whole, the effort pays off. Adapting their drama from Maurice Walsh's book of stories, The Green Rushes, Frank Mahon and Milissa Pacelli offer both solid storytelling and a moving meditation on the ability of common decency to trump bullying bravado. Their adaptation isn't perfect—Quiet Man Tales is just a bit overstuffed, and the quick cuts between plots and subplots often come at the expense of cohesion and full clarity. The focus is divided between the troubled lives and loves of three couples, and the result is a stretched-thin panoramic portrait of Ireland.
The action jumps from IRA ambushes to the Dublin horse shows to rural threshing parties and even briefly across the Atlantic to a Broadway chorus audition. There's a corker of no-holds barred fist fight toward the end, a wedding midway through and no less than three ethnic dialects required of the actors.
There's also a huge amount of exposition required as a dozen-plus characters and their idiosyncrasies, backgrounds and circumstances are established against the backdrop of Ireland in the early 1920s. It's in the explaining—or rather the lack of it—that adapters Mahon and Pacelli shine. The Quiet Man Tales never becomes mired in telling. Past events, future hopes, tangled relationships between brothers and sisters, spouses and lovers, best mates and their whiskey—all are threaded through the dialogue as naturally as a cable knit in a well-made Irish sweater.
Throughout, director Susan Feld highlights the essential details that define individual characters without becoming too bogged down or losing the crucial momentum needed to keep the multiple storylines sweeping forward.
The spine of the story belongs to Paddy Bawn Enright ( Ron Rains ) , the foundation he provides revealed gradually amid a swirl of supporting characters. Rains is wonderfully affecting, self-effacing and radiating understated intensity in his soft-spoken but uncompromising devotion to Ellen Roe O'Danahar ( Cassandra Bissel ) . Their story, tangled with that of Ellen's skinflint tyrannical brother Red Will, is a fine mix of sweet and bitter, a love story of unblinking, realism rather than swooning romance. The climactic showdown between Paddy Bawn and Red Will ( a perfectly despicable Bret Tuomi ) is an explosive triumph of underdog virtue and bruisingly realistic fight choreography.
As a Scottish officer who cares more about fishing than fighting, Aaron Christensen is a delight, despite being saddled with an underdeveloped love story. And that leads to the wink link in the production. As Nuala, Regina Leslie incites undying passion in three very different men over the course of Quiet Man Tales. Nuala lacks the white-hot charisma needed to carry the part—and being underwritten doesn't help matters.
That said, The Quiet Man Tales is still an absorbing rendition of Walsh's stories. And without a leprechaun in sight, it's characters provide a compelling picture of troubles and passions defined by an enchanting country.
