In 'The Informer,' Revolution Is Personal
ART of WNY closes its season with a bang in newly free 1920s Ireland
It is closing weekend for ART’s season smash “The Informer,” but I want to get this in under the wire:
American Repertory Theater’s “The Informer,” a gritty story of revolutionary intrigue, has been a labor of love by ART founder Matthew LaChiusa, and his investment in the show repays him in kind. Set in 1920s Ireland, the story’s pairing of humanity and desperation is compelling on every level.
Credit that to LaChiusa’s commitment. After adapting the play from Liam O’Flaherty’s novel of the same name, LaChiusa designed the show’s set and lighting, then rounded up a 15-member cast and directed this excellent production himself.
The actors and small production team do not let him down. From the lead protagonists to the barkeepers, henchmen and beggars, the scrappy clientele of Dunbar’s pub and its environs reek of authenticity. O’Flaherty wrote of his space “An indefinable smell of human beings living in a congested area filled the air around it,” and in this case that smell is defined as suspicion and fear.
“The Informer” was a prescient choice for source material. The story was of-the-moment when O’Flaherty wrote it in 1925, after Ireland’s hard-fought independence from Britain. Its themes of partisanship, blind loyalty and even violence remain recognizable today, a century later and an ocean away.
Don’t think, though, that is just a stunt in political commentary. Like O’Flaherty, LaChiusa gives us flesh and blood characters, Irish through and through, who would righteously correct anyone who tried to turn them into a metaphor. There is a tale to be told here, and it starts with the traitorous Gypo Nolan (played unrepentantly by Trevor Dugan).
As the lights go down we meet Gypo, flush with cash and coming to terms with what he’s just done. His friend Frankie McPhillip is dead, having accidentally shot himself while trying to escape out a window after being surrounded by police.
His death is the talk of Dunbar’s, an unofficial gathering place for Revolutionists, and two questions are top of mind: why did Frankie, who’d been in hiding after killing a union leader, come back to Dublin? And how did the police know where to find him.
The search for the informer begins.
Leading the way is Dan Gallagher, a revolutionary “battalion” chief played with a clear sense of command by Anthony J. Grande. As events close in, Dan is forced to choose between the one true cause and his love for Frankie’s sister, Mary (Juli Grygier), a woman desperate to move forward, not back.
As Gypo’s love interest, for lack of a better term, Danette Pawlowski transforms herself into a formidable Katie Fox. Behind her flaming hair and abundant lipstick, there is a heart of gold but a backbone of steel. You know that, like Ireland, she is a survivor.
The play, like the novel itself, is packed with high emotion – so much so that it borders on melodrama without quite tipping over into it. Here’s how O’Flaherty describes the moment his informer is tempted: “A monstrous idea had prowled into his head, like an uncouth beast straying from a wilderness into a civilized place where little children are alone.”
Even though the sign on the set says “Dunbar’s,” there is such an intensity from the very first scene that the shadow of that beast is always present. Some music, some chummy dialogue, some anger and grief come and go, but all the time that sense of danger is building to a roaring climax.
Shifting ideologies and oppressive poverty, served with potatoes, pints and whiskey, vividly bring out the best and the beast in this working class, or can’t-get-work-class, tragedy. Altogether, it makes for very good theater and then some.
I want to make sure to credit the entire ensemble. Along with those already mentioned: Catherine Burkhart (who also was dialect coach), John DellaContrada, Dan Morris, Jackson Snodgrass, Nate Chateaux (perfect as the wrongly accused Rattler Mulligan), John F. Kennedy, Tyler Collis, Alicia Adema, Katelyn Gard, Michael L. Busacco and musician Scott Gattie. (ART regular Andrew Zuccarri also shows up – as the face on the “Wanted” poster for Frankie McPhillip.)
Jessica Rasp handled costume design, stage manager is Sheri Sante, Suzanne Hibbard choreographed the action and Jason Stopwinski was head carpenter for the set.
There are three more chances to see “The Informer” at American Repertory Theater of WNY, if it they haven’t sold out: March 27 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. and March 29 at 5 p.m. at upstairs at Compass Performing Arts Center, 545 Elmwood Ave. Tickets are $25, $20 for military and students, $15 for arts industry, at the door, or, just to be sure, at www.artofwny.org.