the cell
presents

THE McGOWAN TRILOGY
A Serial in Three Acts

Written by SEAMUS SCANLON
Directed by KIRA SIMRING

DANCING AT LUNACY
Featuring
PAUL NUGENT, MATT GOLDEN, PHILIP CALLEN, & CONOR McINTYRE

THE LONG WET GRASS
Featuring
PAUL NUGENT & ANNA NUGENT

BOYS SWAM BEFORE ME
Featuring
PAUL NUGENT & CINDY BOYLE

Fight Choreography: JED PETERSON
Scenic & Lighting Design: GERTJAN HOUBEN
Costume Design: SIENA ZOE ALLEN
Sound Design: DYLAN FUSILLO

the cell
338 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
www.thecelltheatre.org
September 13 through October 5, 2014

DANCING AT LUNACY

This is a rewrite of SEAMUS SCANLON’s earlier work of the same name. He has massaged the lead character, Victor McGowan, the better to flow into the two new plays that continue the saga of Victor’s life. Its tone has changed more toward the lunacy side of Victor, and expands his behavior and conversations to make him a more complicated character. Although the title may sound comic, this is a dark, violent, and challenging reconstruction of a critical moment in Irish political history. A tour-de-force production, it is set in Ireland in1984, during the era of hunger strikes and IRA bombings. The dialogue is absolutely brilliant and very funny. But some of the laughter is more from uneasiness than the clever wordplay. Victor makes everyone nervous. Very nervous.

In an illegal drinking club, IRA members gather in secret to sort out their issues. These men have a savagery and a wild disregard for what is now termed collateral damage. Enter Victor McGowan, absolutely the biggest arsehole terrorist you would never want to meet. Young and lean, he turns up the radio, dances around like a fool, insults everyone, and has a loaded gun. A weapon which he loves to play with and point at others. This may not end well.

The lad behind the bar is likeable and clueless. While amazed at Victor’s erratic behavior, he’s just the bloke who washes the glasses. It’s the other gent who is in Victor’s crosshairs. As they banter, the words become harsher, sharper. An elder IRA official joins the group. He and Victor hate each other, yet are on the same team. Someone in that little room is suspected of being a traitor. The sentence for that is always death.

PAUL NUGENT, who portrayed Victor in the earlier version, is once again a human whirlwind as the heartless villain. Though humor threads through the play, the black undertone is murderous madness. This is a brilliant snapshot of a grim instance in time, acted to frightening perfection.

THE LONG WET GRASS

Set several months after DANCING AT LUNACY, we meet Victor again, out in the countryside at night, in the long wet grass. Scenes projected on the wall behind him, and the music that plays as the characters enter, create an encircling mood of the Irish night. He is with a female companion his own age. Sadly, she is gagged and has been transported to this spot in the trunk of Victor’s car for the three-hour drive. He removes the gag and she is rather calm, considering her situation. She and Victor are old friends. She even had a crush on him for ages, but he never noticed. That surprises him, catches him off-guard. It puts a little hiccup in his intentions for the evening, possibly a wavering of his stone-cold heart.

She is another “traitor”, and we already know what happens to traitors. She recounts her “offence” in touching way, appealing to Victor because her transgression was so minor and harmless. But this is Victor she’s talking to. That tiny spark of heart we saw vanishes back into the blackness. Her fear is that she will be left in the long wet grass forever. And forever is a long, lonely time. We don’t know if we believe what Victor tells her. His words and actions do have a tinge of mercy. Her life is in his hands.

ANNA NUGENT is quietly but deeply believable in her bittersweet role, suspended between life and death. We have affection for her and wish her well. If only wishes could come true.

BOYS SWAM BEFORE ME

Just days after his walk in the wet grass, Victor pays a visit his mother. She is in a hospital bed and obviously has dementia. Sometimes she knows who he is, sometimes not. She breaks into a screechy song every so often, then babbles on about her past, real and imagined. Once you’ve heard her blather about Victor’s childhood, you begin to understand why he is what he is.

Her confusion doesn’t stop her from being sharp-tongued. He was a bad boy, she says. She thought that inside he was really a girl. She also lets slip a few heartbreaking secrets he was unaware of. He flinches but stays by her bedside. When she is cold, he pulls up her blanket. His face is still the same icy face, though. Would a “mercy killing” be a mercy to her, or to him?

--Karen D’Onofrio--