Love, Peace, and Robbery

Or

The Trials and Tribulations of a Wheaton Terrier

Cocktail: Aidatini which was strikingly similar to a cosmo, but significantly cheaper. Remember the member's discount at 59E59!

The evening looked to be a disaster. I was seated in the small "C" space at 59E59, which fits maybe 60 people, in front of two gentlemen embarked on their first theatre experience. The "please turn your cell phones off" spiel apparently optional that night. One gentleman talked on his phone throughout the first five minutes of the play. I could hear the woman on the other end of the line. He gave her a vivid description of the action: "he has a Budweiser!" "he said the c word" etc. The older gentleman on my left was so perturbed he felt the need to loudly announce "It's hard enough to understand these accents without you talking on your phone!" "Okay. That makes everything better," I thought.

I don't know what the actors did at this point. Eyes shut, I was busy cringing into the depths of my chair. It is not the optimum way to watch a play. With eyes shut. Pretending, wishing I was somewhere else. Thankfully, the two men behind me eventually left the theatre, taking their four overly stuffed Macy's bags with them. I never knew if the man next to me was ever able to decipher the Cork accents. Everyone settled down, the evening took a better turn.  And all enjoyed Liam Heylin's heist play.

Heylin is a Cork City court reporter. His day job brings an authenticity to Gary (Eric Lucas) and Darren (Matthew Keenan), two convicts planning one more caper because the dole just doesn't do it for them. If the 1st Irish Festival will give out an acting award, it should go to Bruce Rauscher as the cast of thousands. His turn as Darren's 

beloved Wheaton would appear at first to be a bit thankless, but 

after a rather long setup, Mr. Rauscher enjoyed the finest audience reaction of the whole festival.

The Keegan Theatre production was devoted to Paul Newman that night. Particularly appropriate. Love, Peace and Robbery, directed by Kerry Waters Lucas, runs in the same crowd as Robert LeRoy Parker, Harry Longabough, Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker. 

That evening brought the 1st Irish Theatre festival to a close. What a fantastic achievement! I look forward to what George will accomplish in '09.

Congratulations to Zoe Kazan for being one of New York Magazine's 40th Anniversary edition Who's Who in 2048. Ms. Kazan read Milly in Bryan Delaney's The Onion Game at the Vineyard Theatre last summer and is currently in the fabulous The Seagull. That's Kazan, Zoe. Not Rachel Zoe.

Clockwise, from top left: Micah Lasher, Ramin Bahrani, Conrad Tao, Annie Park, Zoe Kazan, Leslie Hewitt. (Photo: Dan Winters)