During the same year that Peterborough’s deep Irish roots will be commemorated 200 years after Peter Robinson brought 2,204 emigrants to these parts, the Peterborough Theatre Guild will soon take audiences across the Atlantic Ocean to County Wesmeath.
Outside Mullingar, the fourth play of the Guild’s current season, opens Friday (January 24) at The Guild Hall on Rogers Street with nine performances to follow.
Directed by Guild veteran Jerry Allen and co-produced by Pat Hooper and Bob Campbell, Outside Mullingar stars Steve Foote as Anthony Reilly and Nancy Towns as Rosemary Muldoon.
Written by Irish-American Oscar-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley and set in rural Ireland near the town of Mullingar, the storyline is centred around Anthony and Rosemary, two middle-aged farming neighbours.
While Rosemary has been romantically interested in Anthony for as long as she can remember, the painfully shy subject of her affection doesn’t have a clue. On top of that, he dislikes farming. When Anthony’s father threatens to disinherit Anthony and leave the family farm to a nephew, Rosemary becomes embroiled in the resulting feud and Reilly family eccentricities. What results is a fight against time and mortality in the hopes securing her long-held dream of love.
Allen says shortly after the play debuted on Broadway in January 2014, he read about it in The New York Times and was intrigued, noting the play’s storyline checked a lot of boxes for him.
“I’m kind of partial to Irish plays because they usually have lots of depth and character and complexities and humour,” said Allen during a recent sit-down at the Guild Hall.
“I’ve always been drawn to that kind of mix that will get an audience that wants to be entertained. Theatre suffers when people put things on stage that are experimental. Not that there isn’t a market for that, but for general audiences like those in Peterborough, you’re not going to get a lot of response to that.”
“At the end of the day, people want to be entertained. So, I look for substance, but also something that might make people laugh and might make them cry. This one has all of those buttons.”
VIDEO: “Outside Mullingar” promo
Not hurting matters is Shandley’s reputation as an acclaimed playwright. He also wrote the screenplay for the 987 film Moonstruck starring Cher and Nicholas Cage, winning an Oscar the following year for Best Original Screenplay. He also penned Doubt: A Parable which, in 2005, won both a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and was made into a 2008 film he wrote and directed, and starred Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
But Allen says the playwright’s resumé, as stellar as it is, ultimately wasn’t a factor in his presenting Outside Mullingar for the local stage.
“I don’t want to do musicals all the time,” laughed Allen who, just last February, directed Fiddler on the Roof and, in spring 2022, was at the directorial helm of Annie.
With its small cast, Outside Mullingar is light years removed from such large ensemble musicals, with the connection between the central actors under a microscope. Steve Foote, who plays Anthony, is convinced Nancy Towns was born to play the role of Rosemary.
“When you’re on stage with Nancy and you look into her eyes, you see this passion — she’s right there with you and she brings the energy,” says Foote, who has acted in three Guild productions starting with 2015’s Of The Fields, Lately.
For her part, Towns — who marked her Guild debut in the Allen-directed Annie — acknowledges that while she doesn’t bring a lot of speaking stage roles experience to bear, working with Foote has given her the confidence to flex her acting muscles and put her own stamp on her role.
“It has been ever evolving as we’ve gotten more comfortable with each other as Steve and Nancy, and with our characters and with each other’s character,” assesses Towns of her working relationship with Foote.
Asked if there are any parallels between their real-life character traits and those of whom they’re portraying, both Foote and Towns say there indeed are.
“The shyness,” says Foote, adding “The wanting, and not being able to express it because of insecurities.”
Towns is less specific, saying there are both parallels and differences between her own traits and those of her character Rosemary.
“I’m not saying which are which, but she is perky and passionate. She can be hard on those she loves, but she knows what she wants and she’s going after it. She has a very sensitive interior as well.”
Allen is confident audiences will connect to what they see and hear on stage.
“They’re going to see all their own idiosyncrasies and their own kind of uncertainties,” he predicts.
“Sometimes you’re successful in that and sometimes you’re not, and sometimes it’s the other person’s fault and sometimes it’s your own fault. All those things come into play at various times.”
Allen adds he’s delighted with his lead actors’ portrayal of their roles, noting, during auditions, Towns “brought a vulnerability” that made all the difference.
“She’s one of the most intuitive, natural actresses I’ve ever run into. When I send her home with something, she writes it all down and comes back with it and then, when she gets together with Steve, magic happens.”
Noting a strong director-actor relationship is key to any stage success, Foote says that’s present in spades.
“The one thing I enjoy the most is working with the other actors, but also having that relationship (with the director). He’s moulding you and you’re taking it to ‘OK, let’s see what happens.’ I love that.”
Allen says he and the producers agreed from the outset that they want “to surround themselves with people that like being with other people.”
“We don’t need anybody who’s a grouch. We don’t need anybody who’s always negative. If you’re coming on to this team, don’t come in negative. We want to like you and we want everybody to like each other.”
Asked what he hopes audiences will derive from the play, Foote is quick to answer.
“It’s sad. It’s funny. There’s drama. But the one thing I hope they take home is some type of joy. It’s a beautifully written play.”
Towns touches on “the opportunity to leave your worries aside for 90 minutes and get swept away into someone else’s world that is relatable — a world where you’re watching things happen with both humour and sadness, but also seeing redemption as experienced by the characters.”
All three agree, at the end of the day, that theatre is a form of entertainment and Outside Mullingar fits the bill perfectly.
“Our primary mandate is to entertain and to a certain extent educate, and I think we’ve hit those markers,” assesses Allen.
Outside Mullingar also stars Luke Foster as Anthony’s widowed father Tony, and Mary Delaney as Rosemary’s recently widowed mother Aoife.
The play will be staged at the Guild Hall at 364 Rogers Street in Peterborough’s East City, with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. on January 24 and 25, January 30 to February 1, and February 6 to 8, with Sunday matinee performances at 2 p.m. on January 26 and February 2.
Assigned seating tickets are priced at $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, and $20 for students and can be purchased by calling 705-745-4211 or online at www.peterboroughtheatreguild.com.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2024-25 season.
