Micheál mac Liammóir is the Irish author of many plays and books. In 1928, he co-founded the Gate Theater with his partner Hilton Edwards. He once gave an acting break to Orson Welles and later appeared as Iago in his film version of Othello. In a 1990 biography, this playwright’s background was corrected to reveal that he was an Englishman who expertly crafted an Irish persona. Pretending to be someone else is at the center of The Mountains Look Different.
Written in 1948, this revival at the Mint Theater Company is the play’s American premiere. Mr. mac Liammóir performed as the son Tom in the original. The play was inspired by Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie in which a former prostitute falls in love but has difficulty turning her life around. The Mountains Look Different is an imagining of what might have happened after O’Neill’s play ended.
Midsummer Eve, June 23, is Bonfire Night; a pre-Christian celebration rebranded by the church as St. John’s Eve. The program has an informative dramaturgical note to explain the event and its traditions. Like many ancient holidays, this one is a petition for a bountiful harvest and good luck. Animal bones are thrown into a fire which gave its name from the term bonefires. Long held superstitions in a rural landscape dotted with mountains are still followed by these farmers.
Martin Grealish’s acreage has no electricity, running water or farm equipment. His son Tom returns from London with Bairbre whom he intends to marry. She does not come with any dowry but her Uncle might be able to help. Bairbre’s got a complicated backstory and is desperate to become an ordinary wife and live happily on this farm. The playwright peels the opaque onion back in a series of scenes culminating in one involving multiple slugs of whiskey.
Confidently paced by Director Aidan Redmond (Mint’s The Suitcase Under the Bed), the complexities and internal negotiations of remaking oneself are explored through rich dialogue and body language. Act I of this play gets the plot machinations underway. In Act II, the family and some neighbors return from the bonfire for all-night party. The easy camaraderie between these characters and the actors portraying them lends an nice touch of authenticity to this melodrama.
The acting is solid across the board. As the straightforward, hard widowed father, Con Horgan never shies away from letting everyone know who is in charge. Jesse Pennington’s son Tom is aggressively presented as a tightly wound man. A romantic dreamer, he returns from London with the woman he loves. His discomforts are raw in this very interesting performance. As Bairbre, Brenda Meaney beautifully establishes the rough, experienced Barbara Stanwyck barely hidden underneath an ineffective and fragile Donna Reed shell. The three roles are critical to the success of this play. That these actors are all up to the challenge as equals makes this chestnut hum with life and wail with regret.
Moodiness peppers this play. “It’s a good thing to be lonesome sometimes.” “The Lord strengthen her. I don’t think she has long to live at all.” The mountains look different after a stay in the big city. People look different as the age, mature and evolve. Or do they really morph? Is turning over a new leaf possible?
As is typical for the Mint Theater, the creative elements excel. Vicki R. Davis’ set design seems to merge realism with a fable-like atmosphere that feels appropriate for this morality play. The action begins outside the front of the farmhouse which will later crack open to reveal the inner home and, by extension, Bairbre’s past.
When this play first opened, the Legion of Mary in heavily Catholic Ireland asserted that “there were no Irish prostitutes in London.” Also, “no Irish Catholic would have anything to do with” them. Despite the protests, the play was successful with Dublin audiences likely because the theme of morality was candidly and thoughtfully addressed. The Mountains Look Different is recommended for fans of well written period pieces given fine productions.