JM Synge’s 118-year-old Irish state-of-the-nation play is both wonderfully dated and entirely apposite to the present age. With comical mix-ups that feel straight out of Twelfth Night, on one hand, and running absurdity that makes Ionesco feel naturalistic, The Playboy of the Western World stands up as acidic farce today.
The ‘western world’ to which the title refers is County Mayo and the Aran Islands (comprised of Inishmaan, Inishmore and Inisherin which happen to be where Martin McDonagh’s much more recent trio of dark comedies are set; McDonagh’s nod to Synge is not a coincidence). To this very day, the Irish National Museum of Country Life in Castlebar has a collection dedicated to debunking the romance that was projected upon the grinding poverty and hardship of life in that part of the world. Indeed, Katie Davenport’s scenic and costume design leans in heavily to the region’s folk traditions — both celebrated and suspect.
Director Caitríona McLaughlin has availed herself of the scale afforded by the National Theatre with a cheekily striking opening image and other-worldly spirits dressed in widows’ weeds and straw headdresses, keening behind a scrim at the top of each act and at the backdrop between scenes. The set, sticking to a proscenium structure with a painted rear wall depicting the horizon and flora at the lip of the stage, rather reminded of the National’s 2019 production of Inua Ellams’ adaption of Chekhov’s Three Sisters (directed by Nadia Fall and set during the Biafran Civil War). The staging therefore had a sort of ‘wide-screen’ feel to it which mainly worked and highlighted the occasional height of the ‘Playboy’s’ (Éanna Hardwicke) hidey-hole. In many respects the staging was conventional with certain flourishes – whether these embellishments were entirely necessary is not quite certain to me but I suspect they will find balance as the play ‘seasons’ during its run. I would have liked to have felt more contrast in the ambience conveyed by the music and shadowy spirits. In other words: if they felt even weirder, they would disquiet us rather than feel like gently additive mood music — but they may gel better beyond opening night.
Where McLaughlin indisputably succeeds is in bringing to life the central ridiculousness of Synge’s satirical premise with the right amount of trust in the audience’s capacity to understand it. She also has a killer cast worth the ticket price alone. Unsurprisingly, Siobhán McSweeney as the Widow Quin brings her full comic genius to the party. Declan Conlon as Old Mahon shines and Hardwicke’s rendition of Christy Mahon is playful and convincing in the satire and earnestness it must straddle. Nicola Coughlan (Pegeen Mike) is always a pleasure to watch perform but I did begin to wonder if her role – resplendent with lines of dialogue – had been as fully realised as it could be? This is in part, the nature of the play itself but the character transforms significantly and stands for the audience’s realisation of the nonsense surrounding them and I wasn’t entirely convinced by the journey on which I was taken via Pegeen on opening night. None of the roles require subtlety and I would have liked to have seen her go as broad and mannered as McSweeney – or play her part so dramatically that the contrast was palpable.
A sharp and rich production, The Playboy of the Western World’s ridicule of reductively romantic veneration of causes or cultures is more relevant than ever and should provoke as much thought as it entertains.
Review by Mary Beer
At the edge of the earth, you could be anyone
Pegeen Flaherty’s life is turned upside down when, on a normal day, a young man walks into her pub claiming that he’s killed his father.
Instead of being shunned, the killer Christy Mahon becomes a local hero. The welcome murderer wins hearts and races as he beds himself into village life. That is until a second man unexpectedly arrives on the scene…
CAST in alphabetical order
Susan Akintomide – Ensemble / Understudy Sara / Tansey / Nelly / Honor Blake
Marty Breen – Sara Tansey
Declan Conlon – Old Mahon
Nicola Coughlan – Pegeen Mike
Lorcan Cranitch – Michael Flaherty
Megan Cusack – Susan Brady / Understudy Pegeen Mike
Naoise Dunbar – Jimmy Farrell / Understudy Christy Mahon
Matthew Forrest – Philly Cullen
Sallay Garnett – Nelly / Understudy Susan Brady
Fionnuala Gygax – Honor Blake / Understudy Widow Quin
Éanna Hardwicke – Christy Mahon
Erin Hennessey – Fiddle / Ensemble
Siobhán McSweeney – Widow Quin
Peter Mooney – Banjo / Ensemble / Understudy Jimmy Farrell / Philly Cullen / Shawn Keogh
Donncha O’Dea – Ensemble / Understudy Old Mahon / Michael Flaherty
Marty Rea – Shawn Keogh
ARTISTIC TEAM
John Millington Synge (1871-1909) – Playwright
Caitríona McLaughlin – Director
Katie Davenport – Set and Costume Designer
James Farncombe – Lighting Designer
Sue Mythen – Movement Director
Adrienne Quartly – Sound Designer
Anna Mullarkey – Composer
Kev McCurdy – Fight Director
Alastair Coomer CDG, Naomi Downham – Casting Directors
Patricia Logue – Dialect Coach
Shereen Ibrahim – Voice Coach
Neetu Singh – Staff Director
THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD
National Theatre
4 December 2025 to 28 February 2026
