Dubliner Shay Duffin’s The Importance of Being Irish

The Importance Of Being trish by Shay Duffin. In repertory with Bren-
dan Behan: Confessions Of An Irish Rebel at the Centennial Theatre

Centre to Sept. 4. 984-4484.

HAY DUFFIN concludes his performance of The Im-

portance Of Being Irish by thanking his audience for

supporting “the theatre arts’ and emphasising their
importance in an age of electronic entertainment.

Not a surprising sentiment from
one steeped as strongly in the oral
irish tradition as the tea he drinks
on stage in the second half of his
show.

And one | wholeheartedly sup-
port,

However, | am forced to use
words like “half and ‘show’
rather than referring to the second -
act of a play because, despite what
he says, Duffin has neither written
nor acted a drama.

Yes, there are some glimpses of
fine, understated acting as we
watch a young boy duck yet
another painful set of knuckles
from one of “the sisters” or listen
to two old furniture makers cough
their way through the lunchtime
tracing sheet.

That Duffin is an accomplished:
natural actor there is no doubt,
even if The Royal Shakespeare
Company at Stratford did reject
him for his Irish dialect.

But we don't get to see much of
his acting skills.

Instead, we spend an evening in
the company of an entertaining
raconteur with enough charm and
cheek to refry the cockles of Molly
Malone's heart. :

AVE FASHION To FIT

n the evening of September 29, 1993, come feast
your eyes on fali fashions that will take ycur family from

Martin Millerchip
THEATRE REVIEW

Which is very pleasant but,
especially in the second half, a lit-
tle repetitive.

it’s like taking the first sip of that
third pint of bitter and wondering
whether you shouldn't have
ordered something with a bit more
body instead. Like a Guinness.

Duffin grew up in Dublin,
treading much the same ground as
James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Christy
Brown, Brendan Behan, ).M.
Synge and others.

The names are invoked early
and often. Occasionally some of
their words and stories make an
appearance.

Duffin quotes Oscar Wilde in
the program: ‘'To steal from one

is plagiarism; to steal from many is
genius.”

What Duifin is demonstrating is
an trish pride and knowledge of a
culture captured in literature, po-
etry and drama.

In the best moment of the show
he recalls his older brother aud a
group of 10-year-olds tormenting
an old and bathchair-bound W.B
Yeats with the cry of “Hey, Yeat-
sy. You canna’ rise now and go to
Innisfree.”

Duffin deplores their behavior
then comes a step closer and
almost lovingly whispers, “How
wonderful that they: knew his po-
etry.”

The influence of the church (it's
probably redundant to say Catho-
lic) is everywhere from the seven:
and-a-half kids per household on
his street to the authoritarian
education provided by the nuns.

Duftin offers no moral judge-
ment on a system that requires a
child to memorize the catechism
before being able to read it, let
alone understand it.

But he provides an hilarious
glimpse of the consequences in
the story of bis first confession.

It doesn't matter whether all the
stories are true, only that they
work, And the ones that are solidly
grounded in experience certainly

do.
Duffin gives his audience what

they want. He has no problem get-
ting them to sing along to Molly
Malone at the top of the show and
if you close your eyes you might
be in any pub the world over.

LIKE A lot of unemployed
actors, Sarah-Jane Redmond
was fed up with waiting
around for the phone to
ring. Bul this former Deep
Cove actor wasn't about to
wait forever.

Redmond and a group of
10 actors have formed a
new theatre collective called
the Holy Barbarians Theatre
Group, and tonight their
performance — a collection
of seven one-act plays —
opens at the Secret, Space
Theatre in Vancouver.

“The jobs were so few
and far between and my
boyfriend and | had waited
lang enough, so we decided
it's time we did something
about it,’ said Redmond.

Being green, Redmond
and company have deliber-
ately kept the run of
Romance Ranch and The
God's Honest, Aa Evening
of Lies, short: Aug. 25, 26,
27 and 28.

SARAH-JANE Redmond.
part of new Holy Bar-
barians Theatre Group.

So far, the response from
the business community has
been pcsitive. The group is
hoping Vancouver au-
diences will respond in kind.

The Secret Space Theatre
is located at 4603 Main St.

Opening night

NORTH VANCOUVER physiotherapist/actor Michael White is
about to begin a month-long run of Johnny Mortimer and
Brian Cooke’s When the Cat's Away at the Metro Theatre.
White was named best supporting actor this year by the
Community Theatre Coalition for his role as the 75-year-old

Bernard in Wife Begins at Forty.

He and ‘an award-winning cast open When the Cat's
Away, based on the British sitcom, George and Mildred, this
Saturday. White plays the womanizing Humphrey Pomfrey.

For tickets, phone 266-7191.

Fall Fashion Extravagana

Your $5.00 ticket price will be donated to help
support the North Shore Neighbourhood House.
Tickets available at all

daytime doings to night time dazzle!

Enjoy complimentary wine and refreshments while
our models display fashions designed with the westcoast

family in mind

Participating Lynn Valley
Merchants or reserve your tickets
by calling 980-9354