Z/Web

Earlier this summer I traveled to Ashland Oregon to see some Shakespeare, and on this day I returned (driving six hours each way on the same day) to see this play. It was well worth the effort. I’d gone to a lecture by Kenny Leon, the director, and his comments made me want to see the play. The original version of the play is “Playboy of the Western World” and is set in Ireland. But it was renamed and rewritten and set in Trinidad by Mustapha Matura. Mustapha brilliantly realized that the cultures of Ireland and Trinidad aren’t that far apart and all he had to do was change a few references and put the dialog in dialect and he was done. The result just makes the play that much more fascinating. It’s a funny, absurd tale about romance and murder. The setting is in a bar (how Irish!) and deals with a handsome stranger who arrives in town who soon reveals he is running away from home after killing his father with a machete. Strangely the news of his crime doesn’t offend the villagers — it fascinates them, and he’s besieged by women who all want him. He falls in love with the lovely bar owner and everything’s going well when suddenly, who shows up but the boy’s father! He’s sporting a bloody head wound and an even fouler temper, wanting to kill his son. Crazy, yes, but the story tells us a lot about how we judge others. When the bar owner finds out the boy was lying about killing his father she dumps him: she’s no longer attracted to him if he’s not dangerous. Fascinating stuff. I won’t spoil the conclusion for you: I highly recommend you check out this play!