The actor John Keating is a tall bag of bones with fright-wig hair and frightened-deer eyes, a glance developed for character sections. That he nabs the direct function in Laoisa Sexton’s “The Pigeon during the Taj Mahal” in the Irish Repertory Theater is reason adequate to discover it, regardless of whether the Engage in’s protracted execution wears out the prickly allure of its premise.
Mr. Keating performs the Pigeon with the title, a sweater-clad, Elvis-quoting naïfile who life in a very trailer park in rural Ireland. Is he lonesome tonight? Not exactly. But he’s clearly thrilled to find a youthful female in smeared makeup and ripped tulle dumped on his doorstep. “You've the uncommon attractiveness,” he says to her unconscious sort. “Like a am dao gia tu che swan in a very filthy lake!” This can be Lolly (Ms. Sexton), a plastered bride-to-be overdosed on vodka and physique glitter. On waking, she first threatens Pigeon having a hammer after which softens at his odd hospitality.
The moment Lolly is more or less awake, Ms. Sexton has great exciting contrasting her shallow metropolis variations with Pigeon’s callow approaches. “D’you got apple iphone, d’you need to do?” she whines. “I cellphone?” the perplexed Pigeon asks. But as they continue to be during the trailer, the Engage in begins to spin its motionless wheels. There’s a lot of dialogue and lots of depredation, In particular the moment A further bachelorette (Zoë Watkins) arrives, but owning place these people together, Ms. Sexton along with the director, Alan Cox, don’t know really how to proceed with them. Even with a persistent theme of innocence and practical experience, and many questions on the area of folklore in contemporary Eire, “The Pigeon within the Taj Mahal” primarily seems like a one-act that outgrew itself. Rather less dialogue wouldn’t damage.
But action considerations Ms. Sexton considerably below providing a vigorous, in some cases vulgar showcase for herself and the opposite actors. A deft performer, she Obviously enjoys Lolly’s woozy, crude obliviousness, but she is just as happy to cede the phase to Mr. Keating. Pigeon isn’t a wholly credible character, but Mr. Keating lends him warmth and a mild style of bravery, even whilst carrying lipstick in addition to a penis headband. Cheers to Ms. Sexton for allowing this distinct actor distribute his wings.