Photo: Carole Rosegg
Cover Interview by Brad Balfour
Play: Molly Sweeney
Director: Charlotte Moore
Cast: Rufus Collins, John Keating, Sarah Street
Run: Opened Thursday, May 23 – Sunday, June 30, 2024
Irish Repertory Theatre
121 W. 22nd St
Over the past six months, from October 2023 through June 2024, the late Irish playwright Brian Friel has been spotlighted by the powers that be at The Irish Repertory Theatre — Ciarán O’Reilly and Charlotte Moore. This retrospective of four of his plays — The Friel Project — celebrates the Irish Rep’s 35th Anniversary and the genius of this creator.
The final play in the series — directed by Moore — “Molly Sweeney,” opened on Thursday, May 23, for a limited run through Sunday June 30th. Starring Rufus Collins as Mr. Rice, John Keating as Frank Sweeney and Sarah Street as Molly Sweeney, the play is the perfect capper for this series since it is structured so differently from the other three. Rather than follow the ensemble structure of his other works, this one is a series of cascading monologues.
As a blind woman, the 41 year old Molly has experienced the world differently. When her recent, restless, and unemployed husband Frank recruits Mr. Rice, a once-famous surgeon, to restore Molly’s sight, everything changes. Previously, Irish Rep produced a production of Molly Sweeney in 2011. Then, as its first digital production during the COVID-19 shutdown, the company produced “Molly Sweeney: A Performance on Screen,” which premiered on May 12, 2020, directed by Charlotte Moore.
Given the schooled trio, the performances are exemplary. But, ultimately, the narrative rests on Street — who took time off between a matinee and evening to answer a few questions on how she brought this character to life.
A Cork City native, actor/writer Street’s recent Irish Rep theatre credits, beside this Friel cycle, include: “Belfast Girls” directed by Nicola Murphy; “Dublin Carol,” directed by Ciarán O’Reilly; “Juno and the Paycock,” directed by Neil Pepe; “The Plough and the Stars” and “Rebel in the Soul,” both directed by Charlotte Moore.
Her other theatre credits include “Good Vibrations” U/S, Irish Arts Center, directed by Des Kennedy; “Intelligence,” Dutch Kills Theater Co. at Edinburgh Fringe directed by Jess Chayes; “Afterwards,” written and directed by Enda Walsh for Irish Arts Center; “Skylight,” Palm Beach Dramaworks, directed by Vanessa Moroscoe; “Sing Street” V/O, New York Theatre Workshop, directed by Rebecca Taichman; “Dyin’ for it,” directed by John Keating, Origin Theatre Co; “Muswell Hill,” directed by Shannon Patterson, The Barrow Group; “The Naturalists,” co-directed by Colleen Clinton and Lily Dorment, The Pond Theatre Co; and “Abigail’s Party,” directed by Lee Brock, The Barrow Group/The Pond theatre Co.
Besides her theatrical work, Street’s recent TV credits include “Inside Amy Schumer – Season 5″ (Paramount+) and “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC). She has also done work in film, commercials and voiceover. She was just nominated for “Outstanding Actress in A Film ” at 2023’s The Nice International Film Festival. Her first feature film, “The Mustache Ride,” is currently in development.
Q: You’ve done these two different Brian Friel plays, how different are they to experience and work on. Why do you think Friel did this play, which is so contrasting from a lot of his other work?
Sarah Street: The two I’ve worked on are certainly very different. The characters are very different. When we meet the character that I played in Aristocrats, Alice, she’s very broken from the get-go, and has, what could be perceived as, if not necessarily, a recovery, a sort of glimmer of hope to the arc of her story by the end. With Molly when we meet her, she seems like a person living an incredibly full life, a happy person, a fulfilled person, a joyful person, and then goes on a journey which brings her to a very different place. They have opposite arcs in that sense, and it’s a completely different experience as an actor doing an ensemble-type play like Aristocrats, where you’re always talking to the other characters on stage whereas with Molly Sweeney, you’re literally giving a direct address to the audience.
Even though you’re on stage with two other actors, you never interact or speak even though your stories are very much interwoven together. It’s just a very different experience working on them as an actor, in the rehearsal process, and all of that. There’s, obviously, with Molly, too, and those kinds of plays, just an enormous amount of text, and the text is so dense that there’s a lot of that work that needs to be done before you can even really start delving into the subtext, or what’s going on with them emotionally, or whatever your perception is of what’s going on with them emotionally.
So, yeah, just two completely different experiences, but both being Friel, [they’re] incredibly rich stories full of interesting people who are all going through stuff, and I’ve loved the contrast of the two experiences. As an actor with one big cast, having that sort of nice family environment of being in a big cast, and then this lovely tiny cast environment is more quiet and still, but equally just as lovely. it’s been wonderful. I’m really, really grateful.
Q: With “Molly Sweeney,” you’re dealing with each character in their own isolation chamber, whereas with the other one, you’re all interacting, feeding off of each other. There’s a greater challenge, in a way, with “Molly Sweeney.” You don’t have all the usual vehicles that you would have as an actor in a play.
Sarah Street: Right, you’re not necessarily playing off anyone, you’re your own generator, essentially.
Q: That offers certain challenges for you in terms of embedding yourself in the character. What did you do to connect to the character? How did you relate to her? How did you make that transition from the beginning to the end, where she’s one way, and then she becomes a very different way?
Sarah Street: Look, to be honest, I don’t have a good answer for this question. I’m not an actor that has some specific way of preparing. I tend to get really familiar with the text, learn my lines, and try to dress in similar clothes in rehearsal of what I think I’m going to be wearing. I’ll put on in rehearsal the shoes that I’m going to have at the show. I tend to wear those in rehearsal, just because it can sometimes inform the way you move your body and stuff.
Other than that, the rehearsal process, finding the character and all that, is more about a state of allowing, rather than of action. You obviously have to learn your lines when there’s blocking and movement, and you can find that within the rehearsal process as an actor. I know it’s all there intuitively within me, and I just have to leave myself alone as much as possible and allow it [to come through]. I take in the expertise of my director, and just sort of feel safe in that messy rehearsal process when things are still being created. They’re messy and bad, and, allowing all of that, I’m kind of being safe in the knowledge that it will come together.
Q: Does your character have a feminist point of view, or do you think she’s been brought down by the men around her? On one level, this play, which was created in the mid-‘90s when Ireland was going through a huge transition, in the way men dominated women in Ireland in the pre-‘90s era versus things starting to evolve in the ‘90s, where women were beginning to free themselves from the roles that they were expected to play in Ireland — or the world for that matter. In a way, this play is saying that the old way of being, that way of men dealing with women, where Molly was forced into a position by having to change her eyesight and
life in a way that didn’t agree with her but was there as an expectation imposed on her by men.
Sarah Street: I do think that there is obviously a commentary on patriarchy by Mr. Friel in this piece, obviously specifically Irish patriarchy. He’s written about three Irish characters set in Ireland, but I think the notion that men know better and that women should never really trust themselves and their own knowledge, intuition and feelings within themselves, that’s something that runs through history and still exists very much today [everywhere].
It’s a very relatable experience as a woman to be gaslighted by society and by men in a way to be made to feel like you don’t know as much as they do, or you’re confused, or you’re not really sure, or whatever and that leads to self-abandonment. Obviously, throughout history, women have had their choices taken away from them; they’ve had opportunities taken away from them and haven’t been able to live proper, full lives because of the impressions placed on them and of the expectations of what they’re supposed to do within a patriarchal society.
I think when you look at that under the microscope with Molly, a woman who is happy in her own life and doing wonderfully well and probably experiencing life in a way that a lot of people around her, the men in her life included, could really learn from.
Despite her supposed disability, she romanticizes her life in such a beautiful way and experiences it in such a joyful manner that none of the people around her are able to fully understand. These men want to fix something about her when there’s nothing really to fix. She was fine all along, but again, given the society that we live in, she was led to abandon herself and constantly feel like she has to perform for people, who she doesn’t want to disappoint. She’s able to perform the tricks of, “Oh, I know what that is, oh, I see this, yes, I see the shadow of your hand, I can name the flower.” [There’s] just this constant pressure on her to conform in a world that is not for her.
Essentially, Molly’s fatal flaw is the fact that she does abandon herself. She has a feeling, obviously, in the beginning of the play that she shouldn’t do this, that she shouldn’t go for this operation, but ultimately she follows the expertise of her husband and the doctor because she feels like that’s what she should do, and that ultimately, she should place her trust in — that they know what’s best for her.
Again, it comes down to women being told that we should trust men when we should trust ourselves. Unfortunately, when we trust men, oftentimes it has very tragic consequences, as we see with Molly. They don’t know what’s best for her, she knew what was best for her all along, and that’s the tragedy of the piece. I think what Mr. Friel is commenting on, when Mr. Rice says that I think she knew better than any of us what she did see, and it’s just unfortunate that they had to mess with something that was so perfect.
Q: Were you angry with her, or with the world? Do you think that there’s been a development or a movement forward? Did you get angry with Molly? That’s kind of three questions there.
Sarah Street: No, not at all. I love Molly. As I said, as an actor, you’re always an advocate for your character so I just have an overwhelming sort of love, respect and compassion for Molly. She’s of her time and circumstances, and, while I do think there has been certain movements forward in terms of legislation and stuff, in Ireland, shall we say, because this country is obviously there’s legislation sort of moving backwards, in a sense, but I think that there has been some movement forward and not as much as we would like to think. Which is why people are still so moved by this play, because it is still so relevant. And that’s why I think it’s so beautiful and stands the test of time.
Q: Did the play inform you of anything about yourself?
Sarah Street: What’s beautiful about how he writes is, it’s not like there’s some clear villain in this piece; there’s two men who definitely mean well. I mean, they might have their own sort of alternative agendas, but I don’t think either of them is Machiavellian by any means. They both think they’re doing the right thing. I think what’s beautiful about the play is there’s room for compassion for all of them.
Of course, what happens to Molly is the ultimate tragedy, but I think there’s absolutely compassion for Frank and Mr. Rice in this piece. That’s what’s so beautiful about it. You see these three people, and there’s space to have compassion and empathy for the three of them. Of course, with the two ridiculously talented actors that I’m cast with in this play, you can’t help but feel for both Frank and Mr. Rice as well.
Q: How familiar with Friel had you been before you did this series. In doing the series, what did you learn about him that you hadn’t known from before?
Sarah Street: I always thought he was brilliant, obviously, but I suppose [I learned of] the expansion of his mind as a writer, how keen of an observer he was of people and how he was able to take niche subjects and make them universal and global. All the pieces are set in Ballybeg, this very remote place, and yet, they’re globally beloved and understood. I think sometimes to be really local is to be global; the more specific it is to a place, the more widely understood it can be. It has given me a whole new perspective on who he is as a writer and how deep that well of his really goes.
Q: Having taken on this challenge, and doing a very successful job at handling it, what does this make you driven to do? Is there somebody or something or a show that you are hankering to do or work in a different environment? What do you see yourself doing beyond this.
Sarah Street: I have no idea. I always have my own project that I’m working on but I wouldn’t say, “Listen, I usually find that when you get stuck on, “oh, I really want to do this or that.” Sometimes I feel like what’s best for me always tends to come along and find me. My focus is this now and I just really like doing the absolute best justice I can to Mr. Friel’s beautiful words, to Charlotte’s direction and to this gorgeous role and this theatre that I’m so grateful for and love performing in. I just want to put all my energy in this and then, as an actor, know that the next thing will be here very soon. I try not to worry about it right now and not spoil the present moment, if that makes any sense.
Q: Did you find that in doing this kind of a role where so much is focused on you, is it more exhausting or less exhausting than being in an ensemble where you have to keep up with everybody else?
Sarah Street: I think for all three of us, and we’ve all spoken about this, that it really is a marathon from the moment you get on [stage]. You just buckle in and go, “All right, away we go.” It’s like launching a rocket. I would say they’re all exhausting in their own way, you’re fully present hopefully and doing your job. But with this one, it’s a workout physically, even though there’s not a lot of movement in this, it’s just the sort of rollercoaster of emotions that she goes through. It’s the same for John and Rufus. This one, I think is particularly exhausting, but I’m loving every second of it.