Arrah-na-Pogue

It is pantomime season, but if wanting something with a little more substance than your average ‘Oh, yes he is, Oh, no he’s not’ theatre experience, Dion Boucicault’s Arrah-na-Pogue offers all the fun and frolics you could ask for, but with an emotional journey to boot. We went to see the play in the Abbey on Saturday night. Written in 1864, the Abbey theatre held faithful to the script, but the production of the melodrama was modern in its ability to be tongue-in-cheek.

The play opened with rambunctious madness. Three trampolines built into the floor of the stage aided the troop as they all weaved around each other and practically bounced over one another in a scene reminiscent of a chase from a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Mobile scenery props - trees, suits of armour, a hobby horse and a sheep that baa’d at the most inopportune moments - did much to add to the general folly and comedy of the play. Characters ran on and off the stage with them, using them to give a sense of motion and the passage of time. It was an exuberant opening, but it made me a little nervous as to the ability of the play to follow through. Was the audience up for such a hell-for-leather journey, would we have the energy to stay with this for a two hour period or would it just leave us travel sick?

It didn’t take long to realise I wouldn’t need my travel calms, there were to be no bumps on this ride despite the speed and energy. Cues were picked up perfectly, and the cast of fifteen were as completely in tune as seasoned dancers in a piece that was a choreographically demanding display of physical theatre. Though all parts were acted beautifully and were perfectly pitched, it was the part of Shaun the Post, played by Aaron Monaghan, which kept the play from descending to a farce without substance. Boucicault, who played this part himself in its earliest production, knew how to give himself the best lines. It isn’t hard to believe that at the time of his greatest popularity he became known as the Irish Shakespeare. When Sean sees Arragh’s cottage on the morning of their wedding he exclaims “There’s Arrah’s cabin; the oysther shell that’s got the pearl of my heart in it” This was nothing until he got a grip on the pearl herself – and Arragh, played by Mary Murray, with her doll like features, was a convincing love interest. Her loveliness made it no wonder that Shaun sent spit flying half way across the stage in his eagerness to convince her how much she was treasured. I kept digging my boyfriend in the ribs and telling him to take notes of his more passionate endearments.

I cried when Sean offered his life to save Arrah’s and in embarrassment turned my face to the side, just to catch the lady beside me wiping away a tear. What made this play so unique and special was the way it would have you crying tears of laughter and sadness in almost the one hanky blow. Through all the farcical elements, the chases, misunderstandings and miscommunications – it was the love story between Arrah and Sean at the centre of the play that was the glue that made the jokes funny and chase scenes dramatic – their love story raised the stakes of this comedy and when their love was endangered, I really did want to shout out, like a child at a pantomime, ‘Watch out, look behind you!’