{"id":27629,"date":"2023-02-28T13:53:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T18:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=27629"},"modified":"2023-03-02T13:49:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T18:49:17","slug":"noted-actor-mick-mellamphy-reprises-his-taut-solo-performance-in-the-smuggler-at-the-irishrep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=27629","title":{"rendered":"Noted Actor Mick Mellamphy Reprises His Taut Solo Performance In \u201cThe Smuggler\u201d at the Irish Rep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review by Brad Balfour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Play: The Smuggler: A Thriller in Rhyme
Location: W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre
Writer: Ron\u00e1n Noone
Director: Conor Bagley
Cast: Michael Mellamphy
January 18 \u2013 March 12, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irish Repertory Theatre
132 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more info go to: https:\/\/irishrep.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in its 20th anniversary season, Origin 1st Irish 2023 was curated by Michael \u201cMick\u201d Mellamphy, Origin Theater\u2019s artistic director since 2021. The third 1st Irish Festival in a row curated by Mellamphy and produced by Origin Theatre Company, also included two productions held at the Irish Repertory Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Mick’s real origins (ha ha) are through his career as an Irish thespian. That is, as an actor. Almost as if he wanted to prove he hasn\u2019t lost his chops, he took on the challenge of grappling with launching the Off-Broadway premiere of \u201cThe Smuggler\u201d \u2014 writer Ronan Noone\u2019s absurd examination of an Irish immigrant bartender\/writer gone awry \u2014 all in rhyming verse. Noone’s hotly anticipated off-Broadway debut of his Origin’s 1st Irish 2019 hit opened at The Irish Rep for previews on January 18th and officially on the 26th. There was no luck trying to smuggle out a ticket \u2014it has completely sold out since previews — but there might be a chance to grab one since the run was extended to March 12th, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this solo performance, Mellamphy draws on elements of his own experience to truly animate Irish immigrant Tim Finnegan who arrives in a small Massachusetts town to pursue his version of the American dream. Trying to make it as a writer on Amity, this affluent summer colony, the beefy bartender loses his job and gets drawn into the dark underbelly of the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions flare between the migrant and local communities after a fatal car crash. Finnegan loses his mixologist job, When he gets drawn into the dark underbelly of the island as a people smuggler and thief. \u201cThe Smuggler\u201dexamines how far will one go to re-establish his self-respect after sinking far from his base as a family man and asks the question, \u201cWhat does it mean to be an American?\u201d Along the way he gets into fights, rips people off and is something of a reprobate. Though it might take great fodder for some future writing project, he\u2019s seems less the writer and more the criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For seasoned actor Mellamphy, it means showing all the permutations of this complicated character \u2014 expressing both his moments of charm and of his rapscallion ways. All this is done while sustaining a fast-paced 80+ minutes of performance, wending his way through the rhyming text via a David Mamet styled storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though set in a basic Irish bar-like setting in all it\u2019s run down glory, the experience is enhanced by having some audience members sit at tables on the stage and even getting served faux alcoholic beverages. Menus get passed some with an actual note from Mellamphy while he occasionally offers a comment or a wink and a nod to appropriate folks from the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the show doesn\u2019t pretend to make a profound statement about the immigrant experience or the slippery slope of going from family man to manhandling lawbreaker, it does offer a thoroughly entertaining escape from mundane reality \u2014 and demonstrates how a skillful actor can take an audience swayed, by a faux alcoholic haze, on a rollicking romp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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