If your idea of Irish people is leprechauns and “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya,” Autumn Royal may come as a bit of a culture shock. This Irish Repertory Theatre production flips the coin, and shows us the depression and squalor that can result from alcoholism, isolation, poverty, and despair. Tim (John Keating), and his sister, May (Maeve Higgins), live a dreary life in one hideous room, with a single thought predominant on their minds. Whatever shall we do with father? He makes a racket, the plaster is falling off the ceiling, and his kids do not have particularly good childhood memories. Sending him off to the “Autumn Royal” rest home of the title doesn’t work out, and neither one feels capable of murder. So sadly, Tim and May are stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
While the tone of the play is appropriate for the situation at hand, it would help us to sympathize with the siblings if we could see some glimmer of happiness to counter all the gloom. Tim has his dreams of going to Australia, which lightens things up a bit. But May does nothing but wallow in misery. Why? Why does this woman, who at one point was young and attractive, not even have a single friend? True, small towns can be unpleasant; everyone knows everyone else’s business. But there’s also a solidarity rarely found in the city. The fact that his children are so totally dependent on their father, even when he’s completely non-communicative, leads us to believe that there are bigger problems here. What are they? Is there any hope at all for either May or Tim?
The ending of Dancing at Lughnasa is bitter and heartbreaking, largely because we’ve really come to know and care about the family. It would be great to have a similar experience here with Tim and May.
