The Suitcase under the Bed

C

The Mint Theater is to be commended for their ambitious efforts to renew interest in Teresa Deevy, an Irish playwright whose career had some success in the mid 1930’s. I did not see the three full-length plays they have presented since 2010, so I cannot judge how representative these four one-act plays are of her work. I did not find any of them fully satisfying. Marriage or the prospect thereof plays a part in each play. “Strange Birth” is little more than a brief character sketch that ends just as it is getting interesting. “In the Cellar of My Friend” was the most self-contained piece, but the characters were cliched and the situation unconvincing. “Holiday House” seemed like the first act of an abandoned play that attempted to blend Shaw with Coward. “The King of Spain’s Daughter” is grittier than the others, but the relationships among the characters were confusing. The production is admirable. The cast of seven (Ellen Adair, Gina Costigan, Sarah Nicole Deaver, Cynthia Mace, Aidan Redmond, Colin Ryan and A.J. Shively) is strong. Their Irish accents were mostly convincing. One of the main pleasures of the evening is to see them play multiple roles. Before the second and fourth plays, one of the actors recites a poem with a verse that contains the title of the play that follows. The costumes by Andrea Varga and wigs are very good. The sets by Vicki R. Davis are modest, but attractive. Jonathan Bank’s direction is leisurely. The praise Mint’s earlier productions of Deevy’s plays received may have set me up for disappointment. Perhaps some manuscripts are left in a suitcase under the bed for a reason. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.