Gray Powell, Matthew Gorman and Anthony MacMahon (photo credit: Scott Gorman)
Giving the finger to what you have
by Jason Booker
The Toronto premiere of this early Conor McPherson work features actress Sarah Dodd in her directorial debut. The fact that Dodd comes from a thespian background clearly shines through since the performances she helped create are fantastic against the uninspired design elements.
A compelling series of monologues, This Lime Tree Bower features three young Irishmen: Joe, the schoolboy who remains vulnerable and curious, Frank, his older brother who shelters his family and provides in the family’s chip shop, and Ray, the devil-may-care philosophy professor. These men will see things they never wanted to, lust after things they can’t have and give the finger to what they’ve got. Without consciously knowing it, the characters all seem to want but have no idea of where to go. And maybe that’s part of the problem of the show. Unlike Terminus (selling out at the Royal Alex, another monologue-based Irish show), This Lime Tree Bower is told in past tense, the tale never becomes immediate or urgent and doesn’t quite justify why these characters needed to be seen or heard by the audience. While the production contains strong performances – also heavily accented – nothing else in the production (and possibly even in the script) demands attention, especially at this moment in time.
