The New York-based Irish actress Katherine O'Sullivan appears in "The Holy Ground," Dermot Bolger's haunting one-woman memory play, as part of this year's 1st Irish Festival. Directed by Don Creedon, "The Holy Ground" runs from September 13 to September 25 at the Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street, in the West Village. This is "The Holy Ground's" professional U.S. premiere. First produced by the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1990, it was originally paired with another Bolger play, "In High Germany."
With bittersweet humor, Monica, a recent widow, tries to come to terms with the sadness of her marriage to a man who couldn't give her children. Unable to face the stigma of being a childless couple in post-colonial Catholic Ireland, Monica's husband, Myles, grows increasingly cruel and distant, rejecting her physically and emotionally. Now, as she empties the house of his papers and possessions, Monica relives their lives together, a life that began with such tender promise. With heart-rending honesty, she recounts the pain and confusion, the long empty years of loneliness and, in a chilling finale, her own tragic act of desperation. But how will she live her life from now on? Will she be able to loosen the grip of ideological rigor mortis? What identity, if any, can she forge for herself?
With his often-elliptical wit Bolger manages to make the play's stultifying marriage stand for much more than a domestic sorry tale. A metaphor for Ireland itself and for what it means to be Irish, "The Holy Ground" sheds ironic light on such traditional virtues as staying in place, maintaining traditions, and holding fast to certain religious beliefs. In the course of the one-hour play Bolger deconstructs the nationalist myth of the submissive, suffering, maternal Irish woman.
A best actress nominee in last year's 1st Irish Festival (for her portrayal of Alice in the Fallen Angel's production of "Cell"), O'Sullivan traces her long career in the theatre back to her "debut" at six in Connie Ryan's "Cute Kiddies." Most recently she was Katherine the Embalmer in the Off-Broadway interactive comedy "Finnegan's Farewell," and in July she appeared in the site-specific "Sit, Stand, Walk, Lie Down" on Governor's Island. Creedon, who directs this play for Big Louie Productions, is a playwright, screenwriter, director and co-founder of Poor Mouth Theatre (which is responsible for another 1st Irish 2010 production, "Guy Walks Into a Bar").
"The Holy Ground" which The Sunday Press of Ireland called "a tour de force... stream of consciousness theatre at its best" plays 14 times at the Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street, from September 13 through September 25, on the following dates: Monday to Saturday September 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 at 9pm; Sunday September 19 at 4pm & 9pm; Tuesday to Friday September 21, 22, 23, 24 at 7pm, and Saturday September 25 at 2pm & 7pm. Tickets, which are $18 are available via TheaterMania.com, by phone at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.theatermania.com. For more information visit www.1stirish.org
Coordinated by the New York-based Origin Theatre Company, 1st Irish 2010 (the 3rd annual edition) runs from September 7 to October 4, and features plays by 16 mostly contemporary, living Irish playwrights in venues across New York. The festival concludes on Monday October 4 with an awards ceremony at which the festival's jury will honor the outstanding performances and productions, and a new Audience Choice Award for Best Play will be inaugurated.
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