Review: Theatre Artists Studio Presents THE WEIR - It Is A Dam of Emotion Half-Full

"There's no dark like a winter night in the country." So says one of the principals in Conor McPherson's evocative drama, THE WEIR. In what has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by the finest Irish playwright of his generation, THE WEIR promises a journey into the souls of its characters, accentuated by storytelling references to faeries and spirits. In a pub, surrounded by blackness and whistling winds, McPherson, as one of his disciples has noted, finds the momentous in the mundane with vivid language and compelling storytelling.

'Tis sad to say that the promise is half-fulfilled in its Arizona Regional Premier at Theatre Artists Studio. The play's structural elegance cannot be denied, nor can McPherson's muscularity of language be overlooked. The problem lies in the delivery. Neither do the performances rise to the level required to open the floodgate of emotion and tension that is at the heart of THE WEIR, nor do the technical effects set the essential mood.

Sometimes the only place the lonely can find camaraderie is the local bar, where they can indulge in libation while pouring their secrets out to understanding confessors. There is solace in the warm embrace of a tavern where the bartender is priest and revelations froth like suds in a stein of ale.

Such is the pub in the play, a rural haven for the locals to congregate, located not far from the weir ("a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow").

Like spies coming in from the cold, the men of County Leitrim end their day with a volley of liquid salutes at their private sanctuary, overseen by Brendan, the quiet and affable bartender (Steven Fajardo): Jack (Michael Fleck), a mechanic and operator of a garage; Jim (Brad Allen), Jack's assistant; and Finbar (Tom Koelbel), the area's one percenter.

Metaphorically speaking, the pub is to the men's lives as the weir is to water. It offers certainty and predictability until one dark and windy night when their chemistry is altered by Finbar's introduction of Valerie (Amanda Melby), a woman to whom he has sold a house and whose reason for sudden relocation from Dublin is a mystery to be revealed.

As Brendan looks on, Jack and Jim and Finbar regale Valerie with stories suffused with mystical and magical references that, in their telling, share insights about their personal pains and vulnerabilities. Theirs are steps in a ladder that leads to two final stories, one by Valerie and the other by Jack, that are striking in the depth of pain and revelation that they render. However, Fleck (whose portrayal as Norman in TAS's 2014 production of On Golden Pond was terrific) and Melby (whose versatility shone in a recent production of Almost, Maine) fall short in achieving the nuance and intensity that the monologues demand.

The substance and tones of THE WEIR suggest a mood and atmosphere that is a far cry from the one arranged by director by Carol MacLeod. Deborah Boehm's set, lovely as it is with fine lattice work and IKEA-like furniture, befits more an upscale bar in Scottsdale rather than a rural pub in Northern Ireland. Likewise, the production's use of full scale lighting detracts from the intended effect of the play.

THE WEIR runs through March 13th.

Photo credit to Mark Gluckman

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