Review: Boston Playwright Theatre's THE HONEY TRAP a Brilliant Debut

First, a moment of truth-in-advertising: among my several hats I am a theatre historian, and my specialty is Greek theatre, drama and ritual from ancient times to the Renaissance. I've already published one book on the subject (Google "Performing Orthodox Ritual in Byzantium") and my research has taken me to many places, laying the foundation for many life-long friendships.

Last weekend I visited one of my friends in the great theatre town of Boston; while there I got to see an exciting new play that by rights should be produced here in the Washington area, and soon. The playwright, Leo McGann, was born and raised in Belfast and he clearly has a personal stake in the troubled history of Ulster. When he arrived in Boston to begin his MFA in playwrighting he heard of an archive from an oral history project related to "The Troubles," a profoundly violent phase in Northern Ireland's history that destroyed the lives of Catholic and Protestant, British and Irish alike.

Because the oral project interviewed people from both sides of the conflict, there has always been the risk that survivors might seek access to these histories, to help identify (and locate) those responsible for the violence.

The burning question, then, is: suppose the interviews fell into the wrong hands? What if, instead of reconciliation and understanding, those tapes have the opposite effect?

McGann's play The Honey Trap offers an answer as compelling as it is complex. Written as part of his work towards an MFA degree, The Honey Trap is a work as mature and necessary as any I have seen--and over the years I've seen quite a lot. What impresses is the way McGann shows us how easily victims can lure themselves into a trap, in particular the trap of thinking that a good-looking Belfast girl might fancy a fling with a British soldier (the "Honey Trap" of the title).

The incident that sets the whole play in motion involves two young British soldiers stationed in Belfast to keep the peace (or so they're told), but confronted by a population violently opposed to their presence. To blow off steam they head to a pub, hook up with a couple girls; one of them ends up dead.

As the play opens we see the survivor, Dave (Barlow Adamson, in full chauvinist swagger) being interviewed by Emily (the bluntly assertive Grace Georgiadis). One of the charms of their encounter is the generation gap that opens up, an old-school bluffer matching wits with a bluestocking who is every inch his match.

McGann creates a series of flashbacks in which we meet Young Dave--the charmingly brash Conrad Sundqvist-Olmos--and his young companion Bobby--the vulnerable Ben Swimmer. Out for a night of heavy drinking and a little fun on the side, they meet up with a smashing pair of young Irish girls--Maggie Markham and Sarah Whelan, who as Lisa and Kirsty light up the stage with their carefully-crafted flirtations, nary a hint of the trouble ahead.

Emily, the interviewer, is a grad student working on behalf of an Irish professor back in Boston, a situation that leads to great awkwardness as the oral history unfolds. The questions-to her, bland and perfunctory-generate a range of emotions and it becomes clear that Dave is still haunted by what happened; it also becomes clear that he consented to the interview for more than posterity's sake.

Not long after the interview we find Dave in a Belfast coffee shop, chatting up the proprietor and doing his absolute, macho best to seduce her. A final encounter is inevitable, but exactly what might happen and why is left unknown until literally the final words of the play. As Sonia, Dave's object of keen interest, Maureen Keiller gives us all the desire and wariness that comes with surviving a city as violent as 1970's Belfast. When Keillor and Adamson square off it's a memorable duel indeed.

McGann skillfully shows there is a world of difference between what we're willing to set down on tape and what we know, of both ourselves and others. Lies and obfuscations abound, and through a series of flashbacks we realize that the audience's first instincts are often misplaced.

The play requires several distinct dialects, and Christine Hammel has done a yeoman's job coaching the cast in each one, balancing the need for accuracy with that for clarity (especially for an American audience). Jeffrey Peterson's unitary set transforms neatly from interior to exterior, from pub to coffee house to university classroom, with Evey Connerty-Marin's lighting skillfully marking each transition. Especially effective are the ways the anti-British graffiti, smeared along the walls, is revealed both subtly and boldly at various points in the play. Adam Kassim's direction is solid, if at times a bit static, but he allows the actors room to reveal the conflicted emotions of their characters, and to hide the most important facts until the very end.

If you're traveling to Boston for the coming weekend, you'd do well to visit The Boston Playwright's Theatre, the launching pad for so many talented writers. Catch The Honey Trap if you can.

Production Photo, left to right: Barlow Adamson as Dave, and Maureen Keillor as Sonia. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky.

Running Time: 2 hours, with one intermission.

Performances are February 16-26 at the Boston Playwright's Theatre
949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.
For Tickets, call 866-811-4111 or visit: www.BostonPlaywrights.org .