THE BEACON

Review by Celia Ipiotis

Brooding and all questioning, the characters in Nancy Harris’ play The Beacon at the Irish Repertory Theatre live an uneasy life–but then they’re Irish. The great actress Kate Mulgrew portrays a free spirited visual artist Beiv. Once married, she had a son who has been absent for a number of years, until, at long last, he returns to find her in his father’s cabin by the sea in West Cork. However, she has turned the cabin into a glass house. By knocking down the walls and replacing them with floor to ceiling glass, she gets more light–but possibly not more clarity.  Her life in this seaside village is riddled with questions and silent accusations about prior actions and suspicions levied by the small town folks. 

When her son Colm (Zach Appleman) unexpectedly visits, he brings a surprise — his wife, the non-stop chatty Bonnie (Ayana Workman) who fans-out over Colm’s famous feminist painter mother. An unquenchable need to question everything and consider the psychological ramifications of everyone’s actions (see Bonnie’s studying to be a Jungian analyst) this spry young lady appears wildy naive. Later, this notion is readjusted. 

The day after their arrival, the son spots an old chum, Donal (Sean Bell) who’s been hired to rebuild the cottage. We  learn the tall, muscular and ingratiating friend was more than a friend to Colm–and perhaps remains so.

Angry, and tightly wound, it’s a wonder Colm survives the play without blowing up the house, his mother and everyone else in his immediate vicinity. Troubled over a menu of items including his sexual preferences, he can’t forgive his mother for never being a Mother, and for possibly being associated with his father’s death (or disappearance). Additionally, he can’t forgive himself for not being true to himself. That’s a lot of unmanageable grief.

In contrast, Donal bemoans torpedoing his architect’s degree in order to support a devastated Colm after his father’s death. While Colm accepts the solace of Donal’s warm arms and attention, Colm dumps him, heads back to university and gets married.

Of course, we can’t forget Kate. She’s capable of  throwing her personality around the room with the force of a hurricane. Dressed in denim overalls, she wields as much controlling power over her family when speaking as when silent.

The Beacon dishes out plenty of twists and turns that circulate around the father’s presumed death and a plethora of family secrets. To top it off, a young male podcaster has made waves trying to frame Beiv for the mysterious disappearance of her husband, or perhaps his murder? 

Even though The Beacon  stretches its thesis a bit thin, in the second act, the coil of rage begins to unravel revealing unexpected aspects of family members tied to one another perhaps by blood but not empathy. Designed by Colm McNallyl, the glass cabin in perpetual construction faces projections of a howling sea that aptly frames  the family turmoil.  Directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull, the dedicated cast enlivens tightly-wound characters squeezed into thin casings.

A delight to see Kate Mulgrew in an intimate theater space, The Beacon runs through November 24.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis