August 30-31, 2008
City Stage at Union Station

Let me start with…wow! I have been officially wow-ed by the Actors Theater of Kansas City’s production of Translations, set in 1800’s Ireland as the English are in the process of uniting all the lands of Great Britain by mapping the areas under its rule and standardizing, aka Anglicizing, the names of rivers and towns. Most of the play is set in a hedge school, an impromptu educational “system” set up in barns by local scholars to afford the people of the smaller towns a modicum of education. The conflict is in that most of Ireland speaks Gaelic in that era, and English is the language of progress sweeping the land. The change in language also serves as a signal that assimilation might erase the traditions of the area.

The acts were spaced perfectly to keep my attention, three 45-minute acts separated by two ten-minute intermissions. (I’ll admit that I have the attention span of a well-educated gnat.) It was just into the second act before I realized how beautiful the Irish-born playwright, Brian Friel, used the English language. Though the dialogue passed by fairly quickly, I was able to catch a few opulent fragments and phrases, not done justice out of context, but you’ll get the idea:

“…words…are not immortal…”
“…linguistic contour that no longer matches the landscape…”
“…past, present, and possibility…”
“…confusion is not an ignoble condition…”

Most of these colorful twists of term were uttered by the schoolmaster, Hugh, played by T. Max Graham, who can belly laugh in such a way that his vest moves like Santa Clause with an alien in his abdomen. The two comic characters, Doalty (Logan Ernstthal) and Jimmy Jack (Gary Holcombe), loaded the drama with truly funny timing and energy. The lead female, Kate Gilchrist Langley who plays Maire, the gorgeous red-headed milkmaid who wants to learn English to escape to America, has a beautiful speaking voice and delivers an emotional performance without going over the top. The male leads, Nathan Darrow as Lt. Yolland, and Nick Gehlfuss as Owen, the bridge between the two clashing cultures, transformed themselves into believable friends in a difficult situation. The tender relationship between Sarah (Elana Kepner), the almost mute girl and Manus (Matthew Rapport), the headmaster’s assistant and son who teaches her to speak, is very sweetly executed.

The actors spoke in an Irish brogue the entire show, which, surprisingly, didn’t bug me at all, though it took me a minute to adjust to the accent. The direction, by Mark Robbins, and whatever dialogue coaching was implemented, was superb. Though the only Gaelic spoken was in utterance of the names of places and the cultural explanations, the audience has no trouble figuring out when there is conflict between the two languages. My favorite scene, the apex of the meaning of the play, is when Lt. Yolland and Maire are falling in love and don’t speak the same language, wishing fervently to become immersed in the other’s culture to find something new and find themselves.

Maybe I’m supposed to say something negative to balance out this review, but there is hardly a flaw in Translations. This production has been seasoning itself since early July and is closing this weekend. Don’t miss it.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.