The Pride of Parnell Street

This was an interesting story performed by strong actors (she was in Noah and the Tower Flower and he was in Oedipus Loves You), yet I felt there was something unfulfilling about the experience. The story follows anecdotes from the lives of a wife and her husband in Dublin. Each tells her/his own experience and the focus shifts between them for the entire 100 minutes of performance. I am not opposed to monologue plays as a form, but it is something that I think is best used selectively. There is something in the bearing witness that can be moving, but I didn't feel like it was effective in the majority of this play.

The play circled through some themes such as how violence can destroy a community while an individual's act of compassion in the face of destruction can change someone's life. There was pride in belonging, pride in surviving, and pride in not giving up hope. In the final moments of the play, their stories are still told separately but the actors are in contact for the first and only moment in the play. It was a tender and sad moment that brought me to tears.

Perhaps my frustration is that these talented actors might have done something really powerful if they had been able to interact throughout the play. Perhaps I wouldn't mind the separation if the stories were edited and streamlined a bit more. Perhaps it was the swelling dramatic music that accompanied the closing of each segment of a monologue immediately before switching focus. Perhaps I was unable to access the local significance of the story to an extent that could hold my attention through tangents in their lives.

I am hoping that through further reflection I will find more clarity in this production. In the meantime, I have seen so many good shows in the past year and in the past week that I don't mind too much if this one play lingers in an unresolved place in my mind, especially if that means I can understand it better.