Anti-heroes are all the rage. But before Tony Soprano, Walter
White, and Frank Underwood, there was Bull McCabe. He is the definitive
20th-century anti-hero: a rugged farmer, a loving father, a brutish bully who
stops at nothing to establish his empire of acreage. McCabe is the force behind
John B. Keane’s 1965 rural Irish drama, “The Field,” an Irish Players of
Rochester production playing through March 29 at the Multi-use Cultural
Community Center.
For
newcomers to Irish theater, “The Field” is a blessing. Traditional Irish elements
flood the stage: pub life, Irish ballads, storytelling, Celtic music, and
family traditions. It ruminates over many of Keane’s common themes —
controversial in his day — who exposed the shifting socio-economic and
religious tensions beneath the everyday lives of those in Ireland. Besides a
few jabs at the Catholic church and local law enforcement, “The Field” is
relatively light on politics. Rather, Keane weaves a humanistic tale that
illuminates the dirt of the individual — men and women with secrets, sweeping
their moral complexities under the rug. And let them lay there, Keane seems to
say; let the ghosts of the past sleep.
Bull McCabe
(Bill Alden) is a small-town Irish farmer looking to acquire a field adjacent
to his own acreage. He and his son have grazed on it for five years, raising
cattle and recuperating the once abandoned soil. This field features a natural
water source, too — a critical element lacking in McCabe’s land — and when Mrs.
Butler (Barbara Lobb) decides to sell it, McCabe’s harsh
hands attempt to strong arm a low ball offer. Mrs. Butler, however, doesn’t
play ball.
Local actor
Bill Alden is the latest to fill Bull McCabe’s menacing boots (previous actors
include Ray McAnally, Brian Dennehy,
and Richard Harris). For this play to work, the actor’s performance must be
sharp and believable, and Alden hits it out of the park. He embodies Bull
McCabe with a ferocious energy that never quits. It’s a kind of powerhouse
performance rarely seen in community theater.
Tyler Lucero plays Tadhg,
McCabe’s son and heir to almost-nothing. His character is mostly a muscle, but
in a pivotal scene between father and son, Lucero provides a poignant
juxtaposition to Alden’s otherwise completely ravenous character. The two talk
of the world, women, and the past — and it is heartfelt. Tadhg’s
balance adds a much needed depth to McCabe, who without it, could suffer from
one-dimensionality.
The rest of
the cast works well enough together. Ken Dauer plays
pub owner and auctioneer Mick Flanagan, an obsequious bystander to McCabe’s
path of rage. Kathy Dauer is Maimie
Flanagan, Mick’s wife, barkeep, and mother of nine children. She’s flirty and
strong willed — it’s a shame she isn’t given more to work with in this play.
We never see
all nine of the Flanagan children, but we do see three little ones (Evelynn
Marie Sullivan, Justin Alexander Sullivan, and Milo Ames) and an eldest, Leamy Flanagan (Kiefer Schenk). Leamy’s
role is small, but the character excels, adding a moral backbone to Keane’s
otherwise modernist narrative.
Director
Jean Gordon Ryon plays “The Field” straight. There’s
no flash or stylistic revisionism here; instead, she offers a production with a
classic vision that is taut and well executed. When the play is funny it
garners laughs, when it’s intense it stiffens backs. At times, I wished the
performance would’ve taken more chances, but, otherwise, I was rarely left
unsatisfied. Ryon’s production is rich and exhibits
hard work.
On May 20, Ryon and her crew hit the road when “The Field” will
perform at the Acting Irish International Theatre Festival in Cincinnati.
In the end,
“The Field” is a story of moral dissonance. McCabe is a menacing villain, sure,
but the audience must consider him. After all, doesn’t McCabe have a point? Who
has more right to this field than he? When he screams at an out-of-towner, “You
don’t know about land. You’re a stranger,” it sounds old-fashioned, presumptive
and ignorant, but at the same time, it is completely understandable. Bull
McCabe the best type of anti-hero: One that we can all relate to.
This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2015.
