Port Authority comes to Glór for two nights

PORT Authority, a play by one of Ireland’s top dramatists Conor McPherson, will be in Glór on October 31 and November 1.

The play is being performed by the Decadent Theatre Company and directed by Andrew Flynn.
In the play, the audience meets Kevin, Dermot and Joe, three generations of Irish men. It is set against the backdrop of contemporary Dublin and each man’s story is a beautifully woven tale of failure, loss and the elusiveness of love.
A young boy leaves home for the first time, a man begins a job for which he is not qualified and a pensioner receives a mysterious package. As each man confronts the significance of the events, they are forced to take stock of themselves, their feelings and the decisions they have made.
Painting a vivid picture of life in his native Dublin, McPherson weaves together a moving and funny tale of loves lost and found, the consequences of big dreams and the significance of even our smallest choices.
With great wit and compassion, McPherson exposes the heart of the common man in what’s a funny and very moving drama.
Director Andrew Flynn said the play hasn’t really been available to regional audiences before. “It’s been a big hit in London and America, but it was initially done in The Gate and it hasn’t really been done here since that. For places like Ennis and Galway and all the regions we’re going to, they wouldn’t have had a chance to see this play.”
He said the narrative will keep audiences on their toes, as they look at potential links between the characters. “It centres on three men, Kevin, Dermot and Joe and they’re from very different generations, one man is in his 20s, one is middle aged and one is in his late 70s. It takes the form of interweaving monologues and each character has a story to tell and through those stories, you get a glimpse of their lives, a glimpse of their characters. It examines things like love, lost opportunities and Irish people’s inability to communicate their feelings. The stories are just brilliant, brilliant stories and very dramatic stories that allow the audience to be detectives and you’re trying to figure out if there’s a link between the stories and how they connect. It’s a very funny and moving play.”
How the stories relate to one another is one of the features of the play. “There’s a lot of resolution, in that the characters are given an opportunity to talk about an event or events in their lives and through that confessional, or through that opportunity, they reflect on what has happened. It’s like the old seanachaí style in terms of storytelling and he weaves these stories through one another and though the characters don’t talk to each other or see each other, you get a sense there is a connection between them and the stories echo off each other.”
McPherson’s writing won high praise in one New York Times review. “I found myself holding on to what these actors had to say as if I were a five-year-old at bedtime being introduced to The Arabian Nights. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t wait to hear what happened next to the man portrayed onstage. The endings of their narratives are fairly evident in their beginnings. What kept me eager and alert was knowing that another simple, surprising phrase was always around the corner.”