Review: Every Day's a Long Day for THE SECOND GIRL at the Huntington

Written by Ronan Noone; directed by Campbell Scott; scenic and costume design, Santo Loquasto; lighting design, James F. Ingalls; sound design, Ben Emerson; production stage manager, Katie Ailinger

Cast in Order of Appearance:

Bridget O'Sullivan, Kathleen McElfresh; Jack Smythe, Christopher Donahue; Cathleen O'Leary, MacKenzie Meehan; offstage voices, Greg Balla and Karen MacDonald

Performances and Tickets:

Now through February 21, Huntington Theatre Company, Wimberly Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston, Mass.; tickets start at $25 and are available by calling 617-266-0880, online at www.huntingtontheatre.org or at the BU Theatre Box Office, 264 Huntington Ave., and the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

Downton Abbey meets Eugene O'Neill in Ronan Noone's new play THE SECOND GIRL, the story of what goes on in a 1912 servants' kitchen while O'Neill's fictional Tyrone family suffer through their long day's journey into night upstairs. Maids Bridget O'Sullivan (Kathleen McElfresh) and Cathleen O'Leary (MacKenzie Meehan), along with the family mechanic and chauffeur Jack Smythe (Christopher Donahue), have little patience for the histrionics of their spoiled employers as they toil from dawn to dusk preparing meals and running errands that are hardly eaten and never appreciated.

Survival is the key for the Tyrone's hired help. Both Bridget and her niece Cathleen, immigrants from Ireland, have come to America - the Connecticut shore, to be exact - to earn money to send back home. Bridget has worked in America for 10 years; Cathleen (the "second girl") is newly arrived. Both long to return home to family one day, but Bridget has become bitter while Cathleen is still enthusiastic and naïve. Bridget, it turns out, has a cross of guilt to bear, one she escapes from in the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Cathleen also finds herself abruptly vacillating between hope and despair when she learns in a letter that her dream of marriage is no longer possible.

Jack, a widower, is a restless soul whose past transgressions make him long to make a new start in California. Fond of Bridget, he would like her to join him. He's aware of her foibles, but he believes what's done is done. He refuses to punish himself and he doesn't want Bridget to punish herself, either. Jack longs for a piece of the American Dream and believes that he and Bridget deserve some happiness. He views California as his last chance at manhood. He promises to go with her or without her.

Through Noone's delicate writing and director Campbell Scott's wonderfully choreographed staging, THE SECOND GIRL portrays a proud perseverance that churns beneath the relentless sameness of the immigrant's life of servitude. A quiet fire burns in each character, and occasionally emotional friction sparks a brief outburst.

Both McElfresh and Meehan, eyes knowing and tongues lashing, maneuver through their daily chores effortlessly, carrying on pointed and animated discussions all the while preparing and cooking three complete meals throughout the course of the play. They chop, carve, wash and serve nimbly, their unconscious movements suggesting years of practice. As the day grows longer and the fatigue, and liquor, take hold, souls are bared and secrets are told - not dramatically, but quietly, in everyday prose. For the immigrant servants' lives must fit in where they can, filling the spaces between the demands of their employers and their duties down below. Even when taking a moment to sit in a rocking chair, there are socks to be darned or buttons to be sewn.

McElfresh has a set jaw and tense posture that hint at releasing a torrent of feelings if she were to let go of control. There are humor and spirit that occasionally peek through her world-weary despair, which only makes her acceptance of her lot in life that much more heartbreaking. Meehan is a youthful spark plug, the second generation second girl who dares to question her "place" and dream of something better for herself. A survivor of the Titanic, she is unafraid to engage in conversation with the Tyrone patriarch. Downstairs she revels in performing scenes for Bridget and Jack that she has read upstairs with the renowned actor. Her unbridled zeal is the hope for the future, even if Bridget can't let herself believe it.

Donahue infuses Jack's weighty loneliness with a charming determination to engage with the maids at every opportunity. He sits himself at the kitchen table comfortably and doesn't let McElfresh's constant chiding deter him. He is proud of his skills and business acumen and longs to be his own man. He also shows a gently romantic side, which not only fuels his wooing of Bridget but also honors the love he had for his late wife.

Scott's direction and Santo Loquasto's beautifully detailed period set and costumes create the workaday world of Noone's three characters perfectly. A massive cast iron gas stove, pine paneled countertops and rafters, working sink, pot rack, gaslight chandelier, and fully stocked cabinets and storage racks dominate the summer home's interior and provide a fully functional servants' kitchen. One can actually see, hear and smell the sausages sizzling and the chicken roasting as McElfresh and Meehan prepare the Tyrone family meals. Large floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the marsh and ocean beyond, and a three-season porch leads to an unseen butler's pantry. A swinging door stage left opens onto the Tyrone's dining room and living quarters. Above the kitchen is the bedroom of Mary Tyrone, suggested by a window whose light goes on and off when she rises or retires. Offstage voices hint at the illness, drinking and drug addiction that plague the employers and elicit little sympathy from the maids and chauffeur.

Even though THE SECOND GIRL takes place on the same day as O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, familiarity with the latter is not essential for enjoyment of the former. Noone has merely drawn a poignant parallel to set one family's rise against the backdrop of another's decline. A long day for Bridget, Cathleen and Jack means hard work in the right direction. For the second girl, that hard work means a second chance.

PHOTOS BY T. CHARLES ERICKSON: MacKenzie Meehan as Cathleen O'Leary and Kathleen McElfresh as Bridget O'Sullivan; Kathleen McElfresh; Christopher Donahue as Jack Smythe and Kathleen McElfresh; MacKenzie Meehan, Kathleen McElfresh and Christopher Donahue; MacKenzie Meehan