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The Night Alive

Reviewed by Pauline Adamek

Geffen Playhouse

Through March 15

Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive feels like a study in randomness. The action, such that there is, happens in a nondescript Dublin bed-sitting room piled with assorted junk, fast food rubbish and old clothes. The handful of characters who pass in and out are somewhat likable losers, barely scraping a living. Their mindless conversation rambles. While a few incidents occur, the story feels aimless — more a subtle character study of quiet desperation than a play with a driving plotline.

That said, these authentically drawn characters and their gently humorous exchanges are mildly diverting. Tommy (Paul Vincent O’Connor) is a slovenly, middle-aged sad sack with a big heart. He rents a room in an old house from his Uncle Maurice (Denis Arndt) who appears from time to time to harangue him about something. Tommy picks up odd jobs here and there, and is assisted by Doc (Dan Donohue), who doesn’t really have a home of his own, crashing at his sister’s place when she’ll have him and at Tommy’s when she won’t. Doc is temporarily displaced when Tommy brings home Aimee (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), a young woman he has rescued from getting bashed. Desperately lonely and estranged from his own family, Tommy takes a shine to her but trouble soon follows in the shape of her abusive pimp Kenneth (Peter O’Meara).

It’s a pleasure to hear genuine Irish accents; Randall Arney has selected and directed his cast well. Takeshi Kata’s detailed scenic design of crusty dilapidation and David Kay Mickelsen’s well-worn costumes add a genuine grittiness and sense of place.

But it’s a shame that the play’s only female character is drawn so two-dimensionally. Aimee is given little to do or say beyond predictable clichés and serving as a dramatic catalyst. The play’s pervasive themes of loneliness and the hope of redemption are crystallized by one of Tommy’s lines towards the end, “You can’t save everybody, though.” Delivered casually, it lands with the heavy thud of significance. As a study of tenuous lives on the fringes, The Night Alive contains exquisite subtleties but may leave you craving more substance.

Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; through March 15. (310) 208-5454, GeffenPlayhouse.com