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Playboy of the Western World

 ((Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble, Venice; 45 seats; $ 18 top))

By CHRISTOPHER MEEKS

Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble presents a comedy in three acts by J.M. Synge; directed by Marilyn Fox; produced by Beth Colt.
 
Cast: Orson Bean, Annie Bogoch, Robert Evan Collins, Paola Eisman, Reamy Hall , Stuart W. Howard, Dennis Madden, Seth Margolies, Alley Mills, Kim Murphy, Carolyn Palmer, and Gregory Vignolle.
 

This exceptionally strong production of "The Playboy of the Western World" shows why the play is a classic: well-rendered characters strike at a part of the human condition in a moving and ironic way. Director Marilyn Fox guides the well-chosen cast through the work by J.M. Synge, the first great modern Irish playwright.

The show is also the first for the realigned Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble since its Culver City theater was razed and artistic director Stephanie Shroyer left to start a new theater with director Debbie Devine and others. Now under the artistic direction of Fox, PRTE is back, temporarily, in its original site in Venice with a production that reminds people how professional this company is.

A young, distraught potato farmer, Christy Mahon (Gregory Vignolle), arrives at a country public-house in a small Irish village, admitting to having just killed his bullying father with a shovel. Everyone, pub owner (Orson Bean) included, admires the stranger and Christy quickly gains the romantic eye of Widow Quin (Alley Mills) and several young women (Carolyn Palmer, Paola Eisman, Annie Bogock,Kim Murphy). Christy, however, is most interested in the pub owner's 20-year-old daughter, Pegeen Mike (Reamy Hall).

Pegeen Mike's wimpy cousin, Shawn (Stuart W. Howard), who has been planning to marry Pegeen Mike and is clearly jealous of Christy, tries to entice the man to leave to no avail. When Christy's father (Robert Evan Collins) arrives, not murdered after all, turmoil ensues.

Fox keeps the action and pacing lively, pulling the audience into Synge's sardonic view of hero worship.

As Christy, Vignolle creates a simple soul who grows into the hero that the townfolk see. Bean, who has become one of the finest stage actors in this city, creates a vivid pub owner, Michael James, who pushes hard to get his daughter married to Shawn.

Mills as Widow Quin brings lustiness and command of the situation that will make anyone forget she played the retiring mom on "The Wonder Years."

The two-story set, designed by Deena Lynn Mullen, lends a sense of space to the otherwise narrow theater; the set and Audrey Eisner's costume design clearly evoke the town's poverty and turn-of-the-century time period.

Peter Stenshoel's sound design captures well the sounds outside the pub. The light design by Debra Garcia Lockwood reinforces the all-around top quality of the production.

Set design, Deena Lynn Mullen; sound design, Peter Stenshoel, light design, Debra Garcia Lockwood; costume design, Audrey Eisner; fight choreography, D.V. Caitlin and John Mossman. Opened March 9, 1996, reviewed March 16, closes April 14. Running time, 2 hours, 35 min.