Review: THE IRISH CURSE At Soho Playhouse

As the saying goes "size matters." Here in America we like things big: big cars, big paychecks, big plates of food, and even big hairdos. Given our proclivity for all things huge it is no surprise that the struggle to measure up goes further than just material possessions. Sure, big muscles can be gained by hitting the gym, but there are still some small body issues that will always remain un-super-sizable. And so we enter the world of Martin Casella's THE IRISH CURSE, a play about men who agonize over their small penises.

THE IRISH CURSE held its world premiere at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival where it enjoyed a sold-out run and won the Overall Excellence Award for Playwrighting. The play then had its European premiere at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, subsequently transferring to The Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. It is now in previews at the Soho Playhouse, with an opening set for this Sunday.

Joseph Flaherty (Dan Butler), Rick Baldwin (Brian Leahy), Kevin Shaunessy (Scott Jaeck), and Stephen Fitzgerald (Austin Peck) are all Irish-American males who come together each week in a self-help group for men with small penises. Held in a Catholic Church basement, these men battle with the reality of the stereotype, and the effect that it has had on their lives. On this particular day newcomer Kieran Reilly (Roderick Hill), an off the boat Irishman, joins the group, prompting
the men to answer more questions and dig deeper into their issues than they had ever done before.

The play's website describes the work as a "rollicking and very funny" play which at times it is. Aside from the always humorous small penis comparisons (bottle cap, baby corn, cocktail weenie), there are also hilarious and witty rants on society, war, and politics in relationship to member size. However, the play itself carries a very serious message about the reality of a society determined shortcoming and consistently asks the audience to define and redefine our own ideas about masculinity.

Casella takes care to stress that each man is successful in his own societal life; one man is a lawyer, another is a policeman and a third is studying sports medicine. Their insecurities lie not in their lives but in their pants and what they feel they are lacking as "men." In reality their lives are tragic tales of loneliness and lies, whether it's an endless string of nameless sexual relationships or the sabotage of the only meaningful relationship they have.

Some of the melodrama goes a bit too far for us to stretch; one of the issues I had a hard time with was the looming notion of suicide as the result of "the Irish curse." It is here that I find Casella pushes it a bit too far and detaches the audience as the drama rockets from sadly troubled into deeply depressed and disturbed. There is also a fairly obvious disconnect between the male characters and their unseen female partners. At one point the men of the support group discuss a wife, and mother of two, abandoning her husband and children in the cruelest of ways as the result of a small penis. It is here again that THE IRISH CURSE loses some of its audience by giving far too much credit to the penis and not nearly enough credit to the ideals of motherhood and love. While delving so deeply into the psychology of having a small penis, Casella is still simplifying something that goes so much further, canceling out much of what he is trying to say.

But aside from these issues the play makes some wonderful and amusing statements about group therapy and addictions to pain and loneliness. The interactions between the actors are comfortable and believable in a way that makes you feel as if they appreciate and enjoy what they are doing. The older characters really steal the show from the young guys. Dan Butler (as Joseph Flaherty) is a delight to watch, capturing our attention as he moves around the stage and speaks in his sweet
Savannah accent. Scott Jaeck (as Kevin Shaunessy) is a fantastic foil for all that is going on around him, moderating the group and cutting the most serious of lines with realities like "Our time is up, we kind of need the room."

Performances will be Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, Sunday evenings at 7 pm, with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM. Tickets are $59 for all seats/all performances. For tickets and more information visit www.TheIrishCurse.com.

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