The Lonesome West – REVIEW
Image: André de Vanny and Lee Beckhurst in THE LONESOME WEST at Old Fitz Theatre. Image: Saz Watson
If you loved the films Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, In Bruges, and/or The Banshees of Inisherin, you should know that there’s a play by the screenwriter of those films on at the Old Fitz, and it’s every bit as powerful as The Banshees.
The screenwriter is Martin McDonagh, whose plays and films have been draped in multiple awards for his writing and directing talents.
This includes The Lonesome West, a very black, very funny comedy, in the McDonagh style which depicts the vitriolic relationship between two brothers, the resentful Coleman (played by Lee Beckhurst) and the miserly Valene (played by Andre de Vanny), who live in their father’s old house somewhere in west Ireland near Galway.
The explosive tempers of the two young men is on show from the beginning of the play as they clash furiously over unresolved childhood grievances.
They bicker over crisps (who bought them, who gets to eat them), religious ornaments (Valene’s precious collection on the mantelpiece), who left the top off Valene’s pen, and who drank Valene’s poteen (potent Irish moonshine).
Then we find out (shock! horror!) that Coleman is beholden to Valene, who has agreed not to reveal that Coleman shot their father dead because he insulted Coleman’s hairstyle.
In exchange, Valene insists that Coleman hand over his testamentary rights, namely his half of the house their father left to them. This, of course, leads to huge conflict between the two.
The alcoholic priest Father Welsh (played by Abe Mitchell) becomes increasingly despondent as he fails to prevent the multiple suicides and murders in his small town. He attempts to intervene in the brothers’ fights, which often spill over to the physical, but in the end fails.
The schoolgirl, Girleen, who is attempting to escape the town by selling illegal poteen, has a crush on the priest.
There is a hilarious scene in which the two brothers compete in finding past events for which they can apologise and then use their confessions to re-open old wounds. This exchange reaches a crescendo until … but you’ll have to see the play to find out.
The play was written in 1997, as the calendar on the wall shows, but it is deeply relevant today.
The cast members are perfect in their roles, brilliantly playing out the tragedy that is to come. But with McDonagh’s writing, you hardly know whether to gasp in horror or burst out laughing, and usually it’s both at the same time. Try it some time and see how hard it is to maintain for a whole production.
The set (by Kate Beere) is well-chosen for a poor old Irish farmhouse, with a few pieces of old furniture scattered on the set and, of course, the mantelpiece which supports Valene’s precious religious ornaments, and which is surmounted by a cross on the wall.
Anna Houston directs the play at a high volume from beginning to end, but perhaps it would have more impact if the tension was released more gradually throughout the play to reach fever pitch towards the end.
But all in all, this was a fabulous production by the Old Fitz Theatre and definitely not one to be missed.
