Rosebud’s Outside Mullingar is about all of us

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Rosebud Theatre opened its 2016 season on April 1, with Outside Mullingar, a hilarious, heart-touching play.
Middle-aged Anthony Reilly lives with his grumpy, ungrateful father on their Ireland farm, and Rosemary Muldoon farms next door with her mother. Rosebud Theatre residents Paul F. Muir and Heather Pattengale play Anthony and Rosemary. Guest actors John Innes and Judith Buchan portray their parents.
Thirty years ago, when Rosemary was six years old and Anthony was 13, he pushed her down in the dirt. She’s never forgotten it and has hated him silently ever since. But we soon see that hatred is not the only feeling Rosemary has for Anthony.
I’ve seen lots of plays that evoke laughter or tears or both, but I think this is the first time I’ve been part of such a unified audience response. I felt I was sharing this play, not just with the companion at my side, but with everyone else around the room.
Our audience laughed aloud and we laughed often, because the play is terribly funny, because playwright John Patrick Shanley’s dialogue is sharp and witty, and because this cast gives a deeply-convincing portrayal of their characters.
They tell the story in fun-to-hear Irish accents, and the Irish culture and Irish rain make the play even more entertaining. But we laughed especially hard when Anthony and Rosemary are in their moments of greatest crisis, because we knew that their story is really about us.
Like Anthony, we fear the risks of loving, and are sometimes secretly convinced we’re “half-cracked” and no good to anyone, especially those we love best. Like Rosemary, we know what it’s like to yearn for something so long we get a little crazy from hoping. Many of us understand the disappointment of trying to please a parent who can never be pleased. And we all know the torment of trying to figure out why our love isn’t returned.
Our audience was so immersed in Anthony’s and Rosemary’s lives, when something good finally happened for them, I heard a collective, satisfied sigh throughout the theatre.
Outside Mullingar is a story of depth, complexity and hilarity, and it’s marvellously performed at Rosebud Theatre.
If you want a night or afternoon of laughter and a story about characters who won’t let you go, you want to see Outside Mullingar. It runs til June 11 on the Opera House stage. Tickets include a buffet meal and can be reserved at rosebudtheatre.com or 1-800-267-7553.