Review: Henley Street’s McPherson drama gripping, powerful

The pain of faulty connections permeates "Shining City," the 2004 Conor McPherson drama that opens Henley Street Theatre Company's third season. McPherson is the 30-something Irish phenom whose skill has been stunning New York and London audiences for a decade.

Richmond A-list actors Larry Cook and Joe Inscoe inhabit the core of the play. Cook is Ian, who's left the priesthood and set up a psychotherapy practice in Dublin. Among his first patients is John (Inscoe), who's grieving the recent death of his wife in a car wreck.

John is weepy and shaky; he and his late wife, he explains, didn't get on well, barely communicated. "It's all right," Ian says warmly. "We'll sort it out."

But Ian's having trouble sorting out his own life. He has a daughter with his girlfriend, Neasa, and they're living with Ian's brother until the therapy practice gets on its feet. But Ian can't deal with Neasa, and she can't cope with the hostile atmosphere of the brother's home. And Ian strains to communicate with Laurence, a young street hustler who visits the office.

McPherson is a master of colloquial language in the Mamet vein; the dialogue is choppy and vulgar and halting in a calculated way that nevertheless sounds real, especially when the characters are having trouble expressing difficult feelings.

John has several long passages in which he tells Ian about his marriage, about a woman he meets at a party, about his fears and visions, and Inscoe uses the style of speaking both to reveal and to hide the character's truth.

It's a gripping performance that is balanced by Cook's careful listening, his gentle smile of support. And Cook shows very different sides of Ian in conversations with Lyddall Bugg's panicky Neasa and Jacob Pennington's laid-back Laurence.

The technical elements that have sometimes challenged Henley Street are well-controlled in this production.

Austin Johnson's garret-office set is shabby and stained, gloomily lit by Andrew Bonniwell, and Shannon Bohn McCallister's costumes are consistent with the downtrodden ethos of the play. All four actors' Irish accents are excellent with Melissa Carroll-Jackson's dialect coaching.

Bo Wilson's direction here is an extension of his fine work on last season's "True West," another skillful foray into dark and intense emotion. McPherson's language is demanding, but Wilson and his actors master it, building to a powerful and unexpected conclusion.

Susan Haubenstock is a Henrico County-based freelance writer and editor. She can be contacted at .