One year ago, Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" was spilling out over Heritage Theatre Company's small stage, the semi-autobiographical masterpiece holding audiences spellbound. Now, with St. Patrick's Day here again, Heritage is presenting that play's companion piece, "A Moon for the Misbegotten," an Irish-saturated eulogy for O'Neill's doomed older brother who, in the fictional form of whiskey-soaked, failed actor James Tyrone Jr., anchors both plays.
Rather than the Tyrones and their genteel pretensions, the relatives surrounding Jim by the time 1923 rolls around are rowdy Irish American pig farmers, tenants eking out a meager existence on a hardscrabble Connecticut farm, all that remains of young Jim's assets. Since his mother's death, Jim has thoroughly pickled his brain with booze, but the pain of her passing, of her abandoning him, has not lessened.
Gary Lee Mahmoud and Cassandra Hoye in Heritage Theatre Company's "A Moon for the Misbegotten."
(Heritage Theatre Company)
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Jim (Sean Phillip Rowe) seeks solace from Josie Hogan (Cassandra Hoye), a foulmouthed, brazen hulk of a woman who occupies the farm with her boozing, scheming father, Phil (David Jones). The Hogans are primarily interested in keeping Jim from selling the property out from under them, and as a long afternoon and a longer night pass by, all three characters peel away layers of truth and expose truly ravaged souls over more than three hours.
The first half of the play could pass for being set in Ireland, as father and daughter scuffle, torment each other and conspire in richly accented brogues. The second half pairs Josie and Jim, as he confronts his demons for what may be the last time before drinking himself to death, and she alternately tries to trap him financially and emancipate his soul. Directed by Karey Faulkner, the nonstop, roundabout banter, full of ruses, evasions and fluctuating moods, becomes both seance and exorcism with the strong performances.
This is a challenging work, both for the four actors (Gary Lee Mahmoud effectively plays both a disgruntled Hogan son who abandons the farm early on and a rich neighbor who fails to exert his will on the Hogans later on) and the audience. It requires work for the viewer to remain focused, to see the people behind the masks created by the torrent of words. But it delivers rich rewards to those who pay close attention and get a glimpse into the human heart.
Faulkner is lavish with Gaelic sentimentality, from the ancient Irish hymn that opens the story to the leprechaun abandon of grizzled Phil, his face a constantly shifting playground of mischief and calculation.
Hoye vividly creates a woman who has built up a bold facade to obscure a reservoir of compassion, a woman who longs to let her love for Jim wash over him and cleanse him of his troubles while she also deals with her own bitterness and vulnerability.
The battles between Josie and her father are played by Hoye and Jones as time-honored rituals neither truly expects to win. We may come to despise Phil for his weaknesses and posturing, but he, too, is redeemed by the long night under the moon as his plans to trick his supposed friend and landlord go awry in the way most of his ambitions die stillborn.
As Jim, Rowe is much less Irish. His eyes are as dead as his soul as the disconnected wastrel lurches into self-destruction and seeks a few brief hours of relief with Josie. Rowe is not as vibrant or as imposing as Hoye, so their long, rambling scenes become Josie's story as much as Jim's. But with all three leading actors exuding an energetic, emotional honesty, a satisfying, almost sweet resolution packs a wallop to send you out into the late night.
"A Moon for the Misbegotten," performed by Heritage Theatre Company, continues through April 2 at Harlow Hall, North Chevy Chase Church, 8814 Kensington Pkwy., Chevy Chase. Showtime Fridays and Saturdays is 8 p.m., with a matinee this Sunday only at 4 p.m. For information and tickets, call 301-770-9080 or visit www.theheritagetheatre.org.
