Entertainment :: Theatre
The Well Of The Saints by Howie Green
EDGE ContributorFriday Oct 29, 2004 First performed in the U.S. in 1911, The Well of the Saints is a short, charming and timeless fable that might well be titled, "Be Careful What You Wish For, You May Get It". Although set in a remote rural area of Ireland, the play’s message and theme would work just as well if it took place in Chile, Kansas, or Katmandu.
At the beginning of the play, we meet Mary and John Doul, a middle-aged, blind, married couple. The couple spend their days sitting by the side of the road begging for coins and ruminating about their youth and how wonderful it would be to be able to see themselves - unaware that time and gravity have altered their faces and figures. Mary remembers the comments of her friends and relatives from her youth about her lovely hair, beautiful skin and pretty eyes. John remembers seeing himself as a virile, dashing, and handsome young man.
Their wish for sight is unexpectedly granted when a traveling holy man visits their village. With their vision temporarily restored, reality hits hard as they get a fresh look at each other. Mary is aghast to see that her husband is dusty, unkempt, and bedraggled, and John is horrified to see his wife’s wrinkles, ratty hair and aged figure. Mary leaves the village while John chases after a pretty young girl who rejects his advances. John behaves so badly that he is driven away by his fellow villagers.
When the temporary effects of their restored vision wear off, Mary and John again find each other along the road, back where they started. They reconcile and try to return to the village and their former friends. The holy man offers them the opportunity to have their site permanently restored, but they reject the offer, much to the chagrin of the holy man and their friends. Having made fools of themselves and angered their friends, they realize that they are better off being blind and decide to move along and find new place to live.
Beth Gotha and Billy Meleady give strong and endearing performances as Mary and John Doul. They both deftly handle the Irish brogue and dialect in which the play is written. John Doul’s extended monologues, beautifully delivered by Meleady in a thick Irish brogue, are occasionally hard to understand. Your enjoyment of the play may well depend on your ability to comprehend what the actors are saying.
The play is effectively staged in the small theatre in the Boston Center for the Arts with a good supporting cast and there is not a bad seat in the house.
The Súgán Theatre Company presents The Well of The Saints , by John Millington Synge, directed by Carmel O’Reilly, at the Boston Center for the Arts, an Urban Cultural Village, Oct. 29 - Nov. 20
Howie Green is a Boston-based artist and painter whose portrait of rapper Biggie Smalls appears on the 2007 compliation album "Incredible". He was winner of Absolut Vodka’s 25th Anniversary art competition and he painted 3 of the cows in the Jimmy Fund’s Cow Parade 2006. He recently painted a series of Pop Art Murals at the Dimock Center in Boston, MA and completed a large art and mural instllation in Delray Beach and Jacksonville, FL. He is also a multi-media designer and author of several books including "Jazz Fish Zen: Adventures in Mamboland" - and he once sang back-up for the opening act at a Shaun Cassidy concert in Madison Square Garden.
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