Swansong

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Australian Theatre Company at the Skylight Theatre
Through October 7

In Swansong, Irish playwright Conor McDermottroe drafts a portrait of a disturbed and angry man unable to quell his sudden fits of rage or find balm for the inner wound that’s been festering since his childhood. The play is a 75-minute one-person monologue in the tradition of such Irish literary notables as Brian Friel and Conor McPherson. Irish playwright/performer Pat Kinevane delivered a sterling example of this form of dramatic storytelling this past spring when he showcased a trilogy of his work at the Odyssey Theatre.

McDermottroe’s protagonist, Austin ‘Occi’ Byrne, is portrayed with fierce and manic energy by Australian performer André de Vanny. When we meet Occi, he’s lolling by the river feeding bread to the swans and having a one-sided conversation with his favorite bird, Agnes, a loner like himself since she lost her mate some time back. The rap about Agnes and how she came to be widowed segues to a more personal anecdote about a violent brawl he recently had in a pub, and then to reminiscences about childhood bullying and rolling down a steep hill in a barrel —an event, Occi theorizes, which may be the foundation of his profound emotional disturbance. When it happened, his head banged repeatedly against the barrel and he emerges with his insides “torn to bits.”

The narrative continues with descriptions of further altercations and the rage that builds inside him at perceived slights. “Mammy,” his alcoholic mother, is the emotional anchor in his life; he’s fiercely protective of her, but his efforts to meet her needs boomerang when, at a social services facility, he gets frustrated, loses control of himself and ends up incarcerated in a sanitarium.

Directed by Greg Caroll, Swansong is the kind of drama you go to anticipating an unsettling journey into the psyche of another human being — hopefully one that illuminates the fundamental humanity we all share. The production aims for that and, to the extent that Vanny is effective in making Occi vulnerable and sympathetic, it succeeds. This reviewer, however, found much sameness in the character’s repeated descriptions of his wrangles and brawls; objects (e.g., a boat) and places (e.g., the sanitarium) are delineated in detail, but the other characters in the story — Occi’s mom and a woman, Mary, that he falls in love with — are never fully fleshed out or made 3-dimensional. And while there’s a cathartic event near the end, basically, there are no twists or turns or surprises to help keep us intrigued throughout.

The role demands intensity and commitment, and Vanny, who’s performed this role for two years plus in Australia and elsewhere, has major reserves of energy and power to share with audiences. The performance I observed, however, though vigorous, bore the marks of an oft-executed work, with not enough illusion of spontaneity to keep me riveted.

Skylight Theatre, 1816 ½ Vermont Ave., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; Mon., 8 p.m.; through October 7; (866) 811-4111, atctix.org or https://SkylightTix.com. Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission.