Review: CORKTOWN '39 at Rogue Machine At The Matrix Theatre

Corktown ’39 is an exhilerating, must-see new world premiere play at Rogue Machine on Melrose through May 25th.  Corktown ’39 is a new play that feels like a classic, the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking drama that you can imagine a playwright like Aaron Sorkin or Henrik Ibsen might have written.

Inspired by his grandfather’s support for the Clan na Gael, playwright John Fazakerley explores a historical IRA assassination plot against the king of England.  Corktown ’39 opens up a richly fascinating world in the home of the Keatings, an Irish American family working in the resistance against the English occupation of Ireland.  We are in the Philadelphia of 1939, in a lively, insular migrant community that is a hotbed of Irish activism against the backdrop of a world teetering into fascism and world war. 

As much as I love the genre, there is often a pretentiousness, a taxidermy preciousness, that creeps into historical plays.  I love that Corktown ’39 has not a shred of it.  Instead Corktown ’39 feels like a lived-in, dirty, textured, real world, and I was immediately captivated by it.

Standouts in the terrific cast include an electrifying JD Cullum as IRA leader Sean Russell and Ann Noble as Kaitlin “Kate” Keating. 

Ann Noble is one of the great delights of Los Angeles theatre, an actress who is a force of nature.  Noble’s fanged wit, raw vulnerability, carnivorous power, bombshell sexiness, and keen intelligence are a tonic against life’s vagaries and disappointments. 

Ann Noble’s ending scene in Corktown ’39 is absolutely devastating.  It is a knockout end to the play.

Corktown ’39 explores compromise, conscience, the irresistible pull of fascism, and the nature of terrorism. How much do you sacrifice to achieve resistance against oppression?  Can violence ever be redemptive?  At what point do you become indistinguishable from the monstrous thing you are fighting against?

With excellent direction from Steven Robman, performances in Corktown ’39 are spellbinding.  The only false note in the cast is Tommy McCabe, whose entire performance seems to consist of playing with his floppy hair. 

There are occasional peak emotional moments when actors slip out of their brogues, which irked me, but mostly the Irish accent work is nuanced and accomplished.

Mark Mendelson, whose intricate, astounding creation of magical realism I absolutely loved in can I touch it?, is masterful and immersive in his design work here.  Dan Weingarten’s lighting work is atmospheric and gorgeous, especially the amber-hued light that comes in through the milky curtains of a window.

Corktown ’39 is another ferocious triumph for the creative team at Rogue Machine, who constantly, rather miraculously, exceed my expectations.  You do not want to miss this one.

Photos by Jacques Lorch