Review: THE FERRYMAN at Hole In The Wall Theater

As it is when cooking a culinary feast it is with theater: Your first bite is with the eye. When you see a gorgeous plate of food, your mouth begins to water, and you can’t wait to dig in. When you walk into a theater and see a stunning set, your eyes begin to take in all the detail, and you can’t wait for the show to start. That’s the sensation I got as I entered the Hole In The Wall theater.

The double doors opened, and the audience is greeted with the authentic interior of the Carney household. I say authentic because I feel like I just walked into my childhood home, and the childhood homes of all my friends: Dishes- washed and unwashed- stacked high on all the counter tops; knick-knacks, toys, and junk covering every bit of storage space in view; pictures, posters, and children’s drawings plastering the wall like wallpaper; even down to the too many chairs around the table. This cluttered, yet familiar space immediately brought to mind a large, multi-generational family, rife with chaos, love, and fits of shouting. My goodness, how accurate that turned out to be.

Look at me go: Rambling on about the set of a show that I haven’t even introduced yet, and I’m already halfway done the first page. I was treated to the Hole in the Wall’s production of The Ferryman, written by Jez Butterworth and directed by Terrence J Peters and Alexandria Palazzo. The spectacular set and scenic design- which thoroughly set the scene (yes, that was intentional)- was designed by Bill Arnold and Julia Corrales & David Lally, accordingly, with props and set dressing meticulously crafted by Maranda Gallo. If the set were any indication, the audience was in for a beast of a performance, and under the guidance of Terrence and Alexandria, it certainly kept its audience’s attention rapt.

While I might attempt a synopsis of a show in one of my reviews, I tend to not speak to the writing of a particular work in that these reviews are about the production and not the script. “The cast and crew are working with what they’ve got, so let’s critique them on what they did and not what they’re given” is my mantra in these reviews, and I stick to that through good and bad: I’ve given good reviews to performances with bad scripts and I’ve given bad reviews to performances with good scripts. The reason why I’ve opened this window to my mind is because The Ferryman is a brilliant script, but it comes with a number of significant challenges and opportunities for any theater to overcome and/or lean into. And the Hole in the Wall Theater leaned into all of them: They brought in Colleen Gunning as a dialect coach to teach the cast how to speak with appropriate accents; they kept the dancing, the fighting, the shattering glass, and yes, the fire; and they even tackled the long run-time of this performance, clocking in at 3hrs and 20min; and they took all of this in stride to make the most of the opportunity that they had to produce this powerful work.

A long run-time in theater these days can seem like a death sentence: whether it is a public’s attention span, or city ordinances, or even just a cast willing to commit to this time, it’s evident that plays and musicals are getting shorter. Not The Ferryman. Three acts, each about an hour long, and not much you can do to speed them up. The Hole in the Wall smartly started promptly at 7:30pm (instead of the usual 8pm start time most theater use) and leaned into their dual intermissions as a means to keep people engaged and the gamble pulled off: The clock may have read 10:30pm, but I didn’t feel like I had been in that room for 3 hours. Any thespian knows that the more production elements you add into a show, the more difficult and anxious the cast and crew gets wondering how they’re going to pull this off, but while it’s unknown if HITW came into this production feeling calm, cool, and collected, they definitely came out of it with their heads held high. To the point where in the opening scene, they light a lampshade on fire and the Carney’s are laughing about it as they nonchalantly bring out a fire extinguisher. (Writer’s note: The way they do this is in an extremely controlled way and is part of the theater magic, so please do not be alarmed.) Lastly, this is a play set in Ireland and part of the charm is the authenticity. Gunning’s work with the cast on accents is stunning and immersive, with the added challenge of being so good at times that it can be difficult to understand if one isn’t accustomed.

Look at me go, again: I try to keep these reviews down to a single page for attention span purposes, but here I am at a page and a half, and I haven’t even mentioned the actor’s by name. This truly is an ensemble cast, as the Carney family is 14 people strong, with a smattering of friends and family that grace the stage. As much as I would love to speak to each of them, there just isn’t the time, so I’m forced to focus on the highlights, but please know that everyone in this cast is phenomenal, dedicated, and offer so much heart to this family. As for the core, the chemistry and tension between Quinn and Caitlin Carney- played by Jeremy Gable and Emma Palizza, respectively- underscores the entire drama from beginning to end, and you couldn’t help but feel for them as they attempt to navigate the ever-muddying waters of their lives. Then you bring in the primary antagonist, Muldoon, played by David Lally, whose cool cruelness leaves the audience sitting in a combination of fear, awe, and hatred. Underneath the main plotline of the show, we are also introduced to Tom Kettle- an Englishman who lives and works with the Carney’s- and Shane Corcoran- the Carney’s nephew. Tom Kettle is played by Ethan Dotson-Kelly, who brings the innocent charm of the character to life and endears himself to everyone watching, while Shane is played by Trevor Burch, who epitomizes the foil of so many characters throughout the show with ease and swagger. A city boy compared to Quinn’s farm life; a man of action compared to Michael Carney’s (Mike Riso’s) restraint; even the passion of a tortured boy who wants freedom to the corrupt zeal of Muldoon’s drive to accomplish his goals by every means necessary. Burch’s Shane Corcoran isn’t introduced until the 2nd act, but he makes his presence known and serves as the catalyst that brings about the shocking end. Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to Giada Lin for making her stage debut at 7 months: Go, little rockstar!