Twenty-five years ago, while doing research for a role in John Millington Synge's classic Irish drama, "The Playboy of the Western World," actress Tandy Cronyn took time to view film director Robert J. Flaherty's 1934 documentary, "Man of Aran," which focuses on people eking out an existence in the remote, rocky islands off the Irish coast.
Now, 21/2 decades later, Cronyn (daughter of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy), is portraying Eileen, one of the title character's two spinster aunties, in Martin McDonagh's acclaimed drama, "The Cripple of Inishmaan," scheduled to play Jan. 5-22 on the Lees Main Stage of the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the U. campus.One of the key point plots in the play -- set in 1934 on the island of Inishmaan -- is the excitement that builds among the villagers when they learn that Flaherty's Hollywood film crew is coming to shoot "Man of Aran" on a neighboring island.
The central character in the piece, being directed by Pioneer Theatre Company Artistic Director Charles Morey, is Billy, a disabled orphan being raised by two soft-hearted -- but slightly daft -- foster-aunts. Billy sees the Hollywood film project as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to escape his confined life on the bleak, remote island.
Cronyn, interviewed briefly, following a cast run-through and photo shoot -- and just before heading off for Montana to spend the Christmas holidays with her brother -- said she had previously seen another of McDonagh's acclaimed plays, "The Beauty Queen of Leenane."
"Then I read this play and just adored it. I think it's more original than 'Leenane,' " said Cronyn. "The structure and subject matter are different, and this is more adventurous. I just adore the see-sawing between comedy and tragedy."
In the play, Cronyn's character, Eileen, has the Gaelic pronunciation -- EYE-leen, instead of the Americanized emphasis on the second syllable.
Several critics have compared McDonagh, one of the most prolific of contemporary Irish playwrights, to such classic writers as Synge and Sean O'Casey. All of Synge's plays, written during an all-too-brief career which spanned only 1903-09, were set in the Aran islands. He also wrote a journal about his experiences in the island, "The Aran Islands" (1907), which Cronyn is reading now.
"They're a race apart," she says of the hardy Irish living on the treacherous island. "It's an extraordinary place, an isolated, barren, primitive little island with a raging sea around it, and we scratch out a living on this piece of rock.
"But this is not a 'period' play. McDonagh has captured Synge and O'Casey's spirit, but this is very much a modern play told from a modern point of view. The language is wonderful; not quite the same as Synge, but McDonagh has captured the Irish idioms. I've found it quite easy to learn because it is so musical. Plays written lyrically are a snap to learn; George Bernard Shaw is that way," Cronyn said.
Mary Fogerty, another actress making her PTC debut, portrays Billy's other aunt.
"We're both ladies of 'a certain age,' " said Cronyn. "It's not explicit in the play, but we're both called Mrs. Osborne -- I'm a spinster, but I think that maybe my sister, Kate (Fogerty), might have married a cousin. Neither of us have had children, and we've adopted this crippled boy. We dote on him, but we don't carry that on our sleeves. I give him a hard time; I'm strict with him, but we're both a little 'off' -- particularly my sister."
Cronyn appeared briefly on Broadway as Sally Bowles in the original production of "Cabaret," which she later took on tour during the 1970s. She has also toured in Sondheim's "Company" and A.R. Gurney's comedy, "The Cocktail Hour."
Although she's based in New York, Cronyn keeps busy performing in major regional theaters across the continent, including "The Belle of Amherst" for Missouri Rep and a televised production of "Much Ado About Nothing" (playing Beatrice) for the Stratford Festival in Canada.
Cronyn noted that the "Cabaret" tour was quite an experience, ranging from one-night, bus-and-truck stops in cavernous arenas that were more like airplane hangars and cattle exposition halls, where, she says, "There's no possibility of establishing intimacy with the audience," to venerable old, restored showhouses that were former jewels on the vaudeville circuit.
"It was the most extraordinary itinerary, but I lost all those records in a fire in New York. They were stored in the basement, which became flooded during the fire," she said.
The cast of "The Cripple of Inishmaan" also includes Liam Christopher O'Brien, making his PTC debut in the title role; Craig Bockhorn (seen previously in such PTC productions as "O, Pioneers," "A Tale of Two Cities," "The Front Page" and "A Streetcar Named Desire") as the village's malicious gossipmonger, Johnnypateenmike; Michelle Six (seen last season in "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Last Night of Ballyhoo") as tempestuous Irish lass Helen; Corey Behnke, making his PTC debut as Helen's brother, Bartley, a lad with a penchant for telescopes and candy; longtime PTC favorite Max Robinson as Babbybobby, a taciturn sailor who ferries Billy and his friends to Aran; Richard Mathews as Dr. McSharry; and Patricia Fraser as Mammy, Johnny's widowed, alcoholic mother.
DIRECTOR MOREY notes that PTC had originally considered doing McDonagh's "Beauty Queen of Leenane," but ". . . then I read this and gave up 'Beauty Queen.' I felt this was a much better play."
(The Tony Award-winning "Leenane" was then picked up by Salt Lake Acting Company, which presented it as the opening production for its 1999-2000 season.)
Morey notes that Irish playwrights, going back 100 years, have "such a strong, lyrical joy and humor; it's inherent in the language and translates wonderfully to the stage.
"This play is very lyrical and wildly funny," he said.
The characters in McDonagh's play "have managed to celebrate what remains enduring and alive in human nature, even in the most appalling circumstances. In the midst of great despair, they find there is still great joy in life," Morey said.
But he also cautioned PTC audiences not to expect another "Dancing at Lughnasa."
"The only similarity is that both take place in Ireland during roughly the same time period, but that was a gentle, lyrical, memory play, and this is very rough-hewn and very dark, very bleak, but also very funny."
Helping behind the scenes are scenery designer Peter Harrison, costume designer K.L. Alberts, lighting designer Peter L. Willardson, sound technician James C. Swonger, dialect coach Sandra Shotwell and hair/makeup designer Monica McGuire.