Theater Review              ‘Molly Sweeney’ Shines In New Milford

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — After three years of showcasing the grotesque tragic-comedies of Irish dramatist Martin MacDonagh, New Milford’s TheatreWorks is staging a beautifully acted rendition of  a piece by Brian Friel, generally acknowledged as Ireland’s greatest living playwright.

Unlike MacDdonagh’s works, which focus on the mental and physical poverty of decaying backwater villages, this play is set in a recognizably middle-class modern world.

Based on a case study by Oliver Sacks, Molly Sweeney tells the story of a woman, blind since infancy, who agrees to an operation that may restore her sight – not because she herself wants it, but to please her husband – and resurrect the career of the ophthalmologist who will perform the surgery.

Doubly rooted in the Irish tradition of story telling and in the medical essayist’s technique of presenting a complex saga of unexpected consequences, Friel’s play is structured upon the apparently wooden device of alternating monologues by the three characters, who sit on chairs or stand in a spotlight, but who never interact or acknowledge one another’s presence. They simply take turns narrating the events that happened, each from their own point of view.

As the tale unfolds, however, the vivid detail of Friel’s language and the richness of his characters allows the audience’s imagination to do the work of transforming a static format into a moving and engaging experience.

With her mother in and out of mental hospitals during her childhood, Molly was raised by her doting father to be confident and independent. A local magistrate who loved flowers, her father encouraged Molly to develop her other senses to the point where she was completely comfortable in the darkness. By using sound, smell and touch, as a small girl she was able to orient herself in the garden and tell him correctly exactly where she was, and which flowers she was “looking” at. She grew up to be a champion swimmer, and supported herself as a massage therapist at the local health club, and had a wide circle of friends.

Frank Sweeney was an energetic, unemployed tree-hugger, who bounced from one dream (African honey bees) to another (raising Iranian goats for cheese). Boundlessly optimistic, a totally self-educated denizen of the public library, he took Molly dancing, fell in love with her, and married her.

While Molly was deliriously happy with things as they were, Frank turned her blindness into his newest project, spending all his time researching her condition and pursuing a cure. This led him to Mr Rice, a once prominent eye surgeon whose life and career disintegrated into alcoholism after his wife left him for a colleague.

Although he is not sure that the operation will work, Rice is convinced by Frank to take on Molly’s case, in part because she reminds him of his lost wife, and in part because it would be “the chance in a lifetime” to perform a medical miracle and thereby regain his reputation. And although Molly herself has no desire to change her life by becoming “sighted,” she agrees to undergo the experimental procedure, in part to please Frank, and also to encourage the doctor, because she could see how much it meant to each of them.

The outcome of the surgery, and the effect that it has on all three protagonists is totally unexpected and troubling. It turns physical blindness into a metaphor, and casts a new interpretation on what it means “to see,” and to “not see.”

Under Richard Pettibone’s direction, and coached by veteran actors Sonnie Osborne and Paula Anderson, the cast performances are uniformly terrific.

Jackie Decho-Holm invests the role of Molly with a placid radiance, gradually deteriorating into confusion and anxiety as her hitherto comprehensible world is splintered and shattered by rays of light until she can no longer detect the line between reality and fantasy.

As Frank, James Hipp bubbles with enthusiasm, rationalizing each failure with an eagerness to move on to something new.  Above all, John Taylor does a remarkable job as Mr Rice. He is a longtime presence on local stages, but this is definitely the best performance I have ever seen him give.

The entire production is accompanied by Irish fiddler Shrdlu, adding to the feeling that this abstractly bare stage is indeed Ballybeg, Ireland.

 (Performances continues Friday and Saturday evenings until October 13. There will also be a matinee on Sunday, October 7. Tickets are $20 for all shows. Call 860-350-6863 for details and reservations.)