Conor McPherson’s 2004 play Shining City receives a splendid intimate-theater production at the Hudson Guild Theater, thanks to its superlative cast and direction. The production, which was seen recently at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival, actually got its local start several years ago in a class at the Actors Studio, where two of its members, Brian Foyster and Eddie Kehler, did a scene from the play. Encouraged by positive response, Foyster and Kehler then raised the money needed to do the entire play in a commercial setting. Despite its title, Shining City is a dark work, one which centers on two men, Ian (Foyster) and John (Kehler), who struggle mightily to deal with their hidden, soul-destroying, secret lives. Ian is an ex-priest turned therapist, John a businessman reeling from the death of his wife. The other two characters in this intense, harrowing play are Neasa (Charlotte Gulezian) and Laurence (Sean Matic/Tyler Williams). The settting is Ian’s small, slightly shabby Dublin’s office (spot-on set by Joel Daavid (sic)), where John comes to Ian for help with his grief, lack of sleep, and depression. In this first scene both men are tentative and unsure with each other. Ian has only recently begun his practice; John is a bit ashamed to talk about his problems, the depths of which are only hinted at. Their reticence is almost comic as they tip-toe round each other. In the next scene we meet Neasa, Ian’s girlfriend, a tough, working-class Irish gal who rips into Ian for having announced that he’s breaking it off with her. “You’re the father of my child,” she reminds him, demanding to know how and why he could possibly think of dumping her. His excuses are so feeble and fake that she explodes with anger and almost chokes the meek little man. As Shining City is a character-driven play, it is in the next two scenes that we learn who Ian and John truly are. The latter literally bares his tormented, guilt-ridden soul in a long, brilliantly written speech which Kehler delivers with stunning power, precision and artistry. Then, in the next scene, it’s Ian turn to reveal himself. We meet him in the company of Laurence, a handsome male prostitute (Matic), he has picked up. Although he is strongly attracted to this young stud, Ian is so conflicted and confused about his homosexual yearnings that he can’t bring himself to actually have sex with him. There are more character revelations to come, topped by a sudden and somewhat ghoulish vision of the demons which continue to haunt poor Ian and John.
