A small cast gives a director an advantage in selection which is used to the full by director Tim Murphy in the Brown Penny production of The Lament for Arthur Cleary at the Granary; all five players, three of whom play several different parts, are terrific.
Conor Tallon is the ghost wandering through the scenes of his childhood in playwright Dermot Bolger's urban landscape. The inescapable fact that Dublin has changed again even since the play was written dates several references and dislodges the atmosphere of Catherine Mulvihill's corrugated set, yet Tallon phrases the memories into meaning through strong vocal technique; directed in an ambulent style, the action has to be carried in the voices, which is also where Judie Chalmers scores. There is strength, too, in the definition of the relationship between these two characters; its immediacy is a much-needed leaven in the lachrymose visitation which lurches from the heavily metaphoric border-crossing to the dolequeue, the money-lenders, and grimy death. There's little point in discussing the echoes of Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire: they are not sustained perhaps because they are unsustainable.
The Lament for Arthur Cleary continues at The Granary until April 10th; it will then tour to Fermoy (April 15th and 16th), Skibbereen (April 19th and 20th), Listowel (April 24th and 25th), Galway (April 30th and May 1st) and Waterford (May 6th and 7th).
