Review by Brad Balfour
Play: “The Weir”
Writer: Conor McPherson
Director: Ciarán O’Reilly
Cast: Dan Butler, Johnny Hopkins, John Keating, Sean Gormley, Sarah Street
Dates: Previews began July 9; it opened on July 17 and runs through August 31, 2025
Irish Repertory Theatre
Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
132 West 22nd Street
“The Weir” is an odd duck of a play –– part bullshit, part melancholic revelation. During a single day, it revolves around five people trying to keep each other entertained in an otherwise boring country pub in a remote part of Ireland. Having been produced several times before at the Irish Repertory Theatre, director Ciaran O’Reilly easily brings it to life in its short 90 minutes.
Jack (Dan Butler) is such a regular in Brendan’s bar that he lets himself in to get a drink on his own. Then, as the bar owner (Johnny Hopkins) comes to open his pub, it’s apparent that he finds less of an intruder and more of a familiar character within his world. The same with Jim (John Keating) another regular who’s also an occasional associate of Jack and his auto repair business. And when the married Finbar (Sean Gormley) comes in with Valerie (Sarah Street), the men all brighten up. Next up is a storytelling session kicked off by Jack, talking about a mysterious apparition.
While it took a while for the characters in Conor McPherson’s award-winning play to take form, when they start telling their stories — some eerie, others sad and pathetic — the play comes alive. And it’s these stalwarts of the Irish Rep’s acting community — especially John Keating and Sarah Street — who really draw emotions out of the tales being told. The personalities that emerge are of local men who willingly stay contained within the confines of the rural world while considering regrets and other options.
Newcomer Valerie has left Dublin and her ex-husband for this isolated village. Now she finds herself drawn into an evening of woeful tales shared by the local bachelors, brought there by a seemingly wayward married man, where they all gather to drink. None of these characters are particularly interesting but under their mundane exteriors, they each have a little something to say that addresses the human condition — or at least that of their own.
As the playful blarney drifts into tales of ghosts, hauntings and other notions of the supernatural, the banter prompts forlorn Valerie to share her own haunting tale — one rooted in real tragedy and a revelation. By revealing just what that is, her telling brings out the real underpinning of the play’s simple but profound meaning.
In starting out with the telling of what one could consider spooky stories, the play ultimately ends with a sad tale of an accident turned into an irrevocable regret which may never be resolved. In that way each story ratchets up drama and real emotion where even Jack bemoans a lost love who he never fully appreciated. The play finally reveals that it’s about much more than just an idle night of meaningless banter but one which addresses the flaws and failing of the human condition — something we all share.
Enhanced by the sounds of stormy weather outside and an unadorned stage setting, “The Weir” serves an audience well in demonstrating that in order to cope with life outside the big city, stories like these need to be told so as to expand one’s life beyond the daily toil. Even when tragedy strikes, life can go on forcing one to cope and maybe find catharsis.