Raferty's Hill does not live up to its Irish roots

Irish plays can be tragic. We know this. What keeps me going back to the S??g??n Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts is that special craft that Irish playwrights weave into their shows, the ability to bring the wit and wisdom of the characters to light, even if the plot wanders sadly into that dark night.

The S??g??n's newest production, Marina Carr's On Raferty's Hill, succeeds in establishing the tragedy of repeated incest (not a difficult feat), but it offers no inspiration or resolution whatsoever to reward us for sitting through such shocking and disturbing material. It is, as one audience member put it, "a three part play with only two parts."

Productions at the S??g??n, which are always by Irish authors, are frequently enhanced by strikingly passionate actors who completely become their characters onstage, are flawless in their accents; and are able to integrate, within their performance as well as the play as a whole, the combination of tragedy and clever tongue that have won Irish literature and performance acclaim for centuries.

The actors in this play, by contrast, seemed rather distracted and disjointed from each other and the play itself. The most convincing of the bunch was John Haag, who played Red Raftery, a chauvinistic bearded middle-aged man who, between engaging in intimate relations with his daughter and daughter/granddaughter, manages to pop out at least one outrageous comment about women in every conversation. (My personal favorite: "Give an inch, next thing you know you're wearing a bra.")

While Raftery's character has no third dimension, Haag's gallant swagger and sanguine face brought him to life. He gurgled his words in the back of his throat before saying them, letting the syllables fester angrily with all the authority that a man of the house should wield.

I was also mildly impressed with Emily Knapp's performance as Sorrel Raftery, the spunky fianc?© of an aspiring farmer named Dara Mood (Ciaran Crawford), who is the second daughter in the Raftery family to be assaulted by Red. Knapp, a Harvard senior, showed immense poise and professionalism onstage, and was particularly striking in the complete character shift that occurs after the rape. It seems not only that her expression has gone sallow in the second act, but that her face actually goes gaunt. She looks, as well as acts, like a completely different person. The play is a forthright, unromantic look at how traumatically domestic abuse can cripple a carefree young woman's love life and stability.

Crawford's character as Sorrel's proud husband-to-be is as flat as the others', but he does a fine job of maintaining the combination of innocent sexiness and manly earnestness. This earnestness ultimately angers the audience when they are confronted with the disgraceful way that Red treats Dara and even angrier when Sorrel's experiences prevent her from being able to go through with the marriage.

There is Sorrel's sister Dinah (Melinda Lopez), the practical lady of the house, whose bitterness toward Sorrel comes out as we slowly learn the truth about their real relationship as mother and daughter. And what Irish play would be complete without some kooky characters? Artistic Director Carmen O'Reilly plays a crazy old grandmother, who (symbolically) keeps trying to escape and is held back by the ever-duty-enslaved Dinah, and Shawn Sturnick plays the half-witted other son who misses his mother and fears his father so much that he will only come out of the cowshed at meal times. These roles add little more than an absurdist comic relief to the show.

The acting in this show is adequately outrageous; with the exception of John Morgan, whose character is perhaps the only reasonable one in the show; each character dances his or her eccentricity across the stage with particular grace. The problem only lies in the plot itself, one which offers no hope for the future but merely offers tragedy for the audience to sniff like a cup of stale whiskey and then shoos us out the door. If you're going to make us feel the burn, at least reward us with some kind of lingering glow. On Raftery's Hill is currently playing through Apr. 19 at the S??g??n Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston. Tickets are $24 and $29. Call the Box office at (617) 426-2787 for more information.