Curtain Call: Irish romance

“Mullingar” was written by John Patrick Shanley, best known for “Doubt,” the Tonyand Oscar-winning drama about a priest accused of molestation that delves deeply into ethics, morality, piety and righteousness. “Mullingar” is the antithesis of that work: a fairly straightforward romantic dramedy about loneliness, longing and love.

Which is not to minimize those themes. “Mullingar” is a beautiful character study. It allows the actors and director to plumb the depths of human emotion and need. And what better setting than Ireland, where fisticuffs and hugs are traded equally in the time it takes to drain a pint of Guinness?

The play opens in the wake of a funeral, as Aoife Muldoon (Dominique Lowell) has just buried her husband, Chris. She joins Tony Reilly (Arthur J. Beer) for tea, and the two elderly, lifelong neighbors openly discuss their own mortality and legacies. Aoife’s only child, Rosemary (Suzi Regan), is a typical redheaded Irish lass, fiery and independent. Tony’s only son, Anthony (John Lepard), has quietly tended the family farm his entire life, but Tony rejects the notion of leaving it to him. Tony refuses to divulge his reasons, except to say that Anthony takes after his maternal grandfather, a man who “sued his own dog for slander” and who “talked with turkeys about politics.”

Chris’s body is barely cold when Tony provokes Aoife with the issue of a small strip of land, the right-of-way between his farm and the road. Tony sold the land to Chris over 30 years before, and wants to buy it back to make his property whole. Giving more detail would spoil key plot points, but suffice to say the issue becomes a critical point of contention, as well as a key element in the very, very slow-burning romance between Anthony and Rosemary.

How slow is very, very slow? About 34 years. From age 6, Rosemary has loved Anthony, eschewing all other suitors and waiting for him to come around. She is finally forced to confront Anthony in the hilarious third scene, when he attempts to arrange a potential marriage for her. To someone else. That famous, fabulous Irish temper flares at full force, and Regan commands the stage as her Rosemary commands Anthony to sit down, drink his Guinness, and face her litany of questions about their relationship.

For his part, Anthony is a quiet, industrious man who isolates himself from people by tending to the farm and flitting endlessly about the fields in his free time. Lepard expertly sheds his naturally confident carriage to become Anthony, a bumbling man-child who is uncomfortable in his own skin and around other people.

“Outside Mullingar” is touching and funny, and makes for an ultimate date night play. One tip: wait until after the play to hoist your own pints of Guinness. The performance is an hour and 45 minutes with many laughs and no intermission, surely a challenge for even the mightiest of Irish bladders.

“Outside Mullingar”

Williamston Theatre

Through June 21 8 p.m. Thursdays-Friday; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday $22 Thursday/$27 Friday- Saturday evening/$24 matinees/$10 students/ seniors and military $2 discount 122 S. Putnam St., Williamston (517) 655-7469, williamstontheatre.com