Irish Rep Strikes Gold With Insightful and Incisive ‘The Loved Ones’

Sometimes great storytelling can be distinguished not only by how information is revealed, but by certain details being withheld and some questions left unresolved, encouraging further reflection. Such is the case with “The Loved Ones,” a beautifully written new play by Erica Murray, now having its off-Broadway premiere at Irish Repertory Theatre.The play’s central mystery concerns a character we never meet, Robin, a male college teacher who died exactly six months ago. The cause of death is never disclosed; there are hints it may have been a suicide, but at least one line suggests this wasn’t the case, albeit without ruling it out entirely.The four characters who appear onstage, notably, are women, and Robin managed to upend three of their lives before passing. There’s his mother, Nell, who raised him alone after conceiving him through a one-night stand and has been making ends meet by running an Airbnb out of her farmhouse in Ireland’s West Clare, depicted with cozy authenticity in Tatiana Kahvegian’s scenic design. Orla, Robin’s widow, is there to commemorate the sad anniversary with her mother-in-law, despite having clearly had strained relationships with both Nell and her son.The reunion is further complicated by the arrival of Gabby, one of Robin’s students from London, who is apparently seven months pregnant with his child. As Nell and Gabby struggle to conceal the unborn baby’s paternity, we learn that Orla, who’s in her late 30s, had been trying to conceive herself, and that those unsuccessful efforts were likely a considerable source of stress in her marriage.It would seem like the perfect setup for a spree of ugly revelations and angry confrontations, and there are some of those. But what ultimately emerges, under Nicola Murphy Dubey’s sensitive, meticulous direction, is a picture of very different women — including the fourth character, a middle-aged American tourist named Cheryl-Ann — finding common ground and, in the end, a measure of peace, through empathy and self-examination.If that sounds like a recipe for corn, be assured that Ms. Murray’s witty, incisive writing, to the contrary, delivers both poignance and mordant humor, which are expertly mined by the director and her cast. One of the New York stage’s most enduring treasures, Maryann Plunkett, as Nell, anchors the staging with her usual vigor, fully evincing the grief and frustration of a woman whose life has been defined by sacrifice.Clare O’Malley, an alumna of several Irish Rep productions, proves a worthy foil as the crisp, elegant Orla, gradually conveying the suffering and fundamental decency of a woman who can seem coolly unflappable on the surface. Alana Raquel Bowers brings an earthier sensibility as well as an endearing naïveté to Gabby, while also relaying a clear intelligence; a scene in which her character and Ms. O’Malley’s forge an unlikely bond is at once funny and moving.But the most surprising evolution in “The Loved Ones” may be Cheryl-Ann’s. As played by another estimable trouper, Donna Lynne Champlin, Nell’s guest is at first a hilariously irritating interloper, yet she too eventually proves a source of compassion and even wisdom. Towards the end, a desperate Nell asks Cheryl-Ann, who lost her own sister to cancer, “When does it start to feel better?”The visitor replies that grief “doesn’t have an end. It doesn’t resolve like in stories…But you’re going to get bigger around it.” It’s a lovely and plainly honest observation, and seems like the perfect resolution for a play that’s as spiritually generous as it is smart and entertaining.

Irish Rep Strikes Gold With Insightful and Incisive ‘The Loved Ones’

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