Tryst By Karoline Leach • Director: Joe Brancato • Irish Repertory Theatre • Through August 2, 2011)
The Irish Repertory Theatre, confronted with a gap in its regular schedule, has come up with Tryst, an efficient two-character thriller. They’ve given it a slick, first rate production, possibly better than the text itself actually merits.
The actors, Andrea Maulella and Mark Shanahan, and their director, Joe Brancato, have done the play before, but only Shanahan has previously appeared at the Irish Rep.
In the company’s last production, a revival of Dion Boucicault’s “The Shaughraun,” he was a standout as Captain Molineux, a leading role he carried off with grace and style.
If Mark Shanahan was heroic in “The Shaughraun,” he’s openly villainous in “Tryst,” playing a character named George Love. From just about the first word out of his mouth, however, he reveals himself as being far from anything resembling “Love,” being the sort of fellow who lives by taking advantage of defenseless women, particularly if they have some money.
Adelaide Pinchin works in a hat maker’s shop, and has a little money, but not very much. Sometimes “not very much” is enough for George, particularly if he’s desperate, as he so often is.
As deftly played by Andrea Maulella, the rail thin and vulnerable Adelaide is an ideal target for George’s evil designs. As it happens, she isn’t entirely without weapons, and she turns out to be a reasonably formidable match for George.
The Irish Rep’s production of “Tryst” isn’t the first time the play has been done in New York. In 2006, in slightly different form, it was done at the Promenade Theatre with Amelia Campbell and Maxwell Caulfield as Adelaide and George. Director Joe Brancato, founder and artistic director of the Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, New York, staged the 2006 production of “Tryst.”
The Irish Rep’s new production of the play is a “restaging with script revisions” of Brancato’s Promenade Theatre, which was the play’s American premiere. Maulella did “Tryst” at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Shanahan also did the play at the Alley Theatre, and, in addition, at the Merrimack Rep and at the Westport Country Playhouse, always under the direction of Joe Brancato.
Playwright Karoline Leach is best known for her book, “In the Shadow of the Dreamchild,” which examines the life of Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” “Tryst,” her first major play, was originally produced under the title, “The Mysterious Mr. Love,” staged in London’s West End in 1997.
Leach, a former actress and director, has a strong ear for speakable dialogue, evident in almost every scene of “Tryst.” That doesn’t make up for some major weaknesses in the plot. The Irish Repertory Theatre production of “Tryst” is handsome, with scenery by Michael Schweikardt, which includes a cleverly used turntable. Martin Vreeland’s lighting design is a strong element, as are the costumes by Alejo Vietti and Johnna Doty’s sound design.
“Tryst” will be playing on the Irish Repertory Theatre’s Mainstage through August 21.
