Chapatti
Well now, there’s something you don’t see every day — or rather, something you would not have seen every day, not too terribly long ago: an Irish play that starts off as dual (but not dull!) quotidian narratives from a depressed dog-lover and a crazy cat lady before shading into what just might be a late-in-life romantic encounter, except for the deeply central themes of suicide and adultery. And that’s where things, not too terribly long ago, would have gotten religious-minded, what with the Catholic Church’s condemnation of both those things, and the Irish tendency to keep the Catholic Church always in the background, if not always front and center. There would have been some comment on the matter from someone, even if it were only an anguished cry of “Hang the Church, I’m hangin’ meself!” Here, today, the institution doesn’t rate a dismissal, nor even a mention. Suicide? Well, consider what might still be worth living for. Adultery? How wonderful that the two of you had the courage to choose love! When all you’ve got is yourself, then perhaps the self and its satisfactions are all you’ve got to consult. But what if you’ve also got a dog? And what if, high principles aside, you’re a fundamentally decent soul who’s willing to do for someone else? Ah, thereby wags a tail, or some such expression. And it is a tale, a yarn, spun out in lovely he says/she says fashion, punctuated by easy slides into conversation between actors Robert May and Grace Delaney. Their characters have been through it, and haven’t much time or use for the Big Questions — until the heart starts demanding answers. Heavy stuff, but it doesn’t feel that way; there’s too much comedy and sweetness in what happens, too much laughter and goodness in their interactions. You leave feeling you have kept company with them — a couple of sympathetic souls for whom you’d like to be able to hold out hope.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, February 25, 2024
Hours
| Fridays, 7:30pm-9:30pm |
| Saturdays, 7:30pm-9:30pm |