LOS ANGELES — It’s been a pretty good year for Irish plays. There was War and The Field, both set in an Irish pub, and Lucia Mad, a domestic drama about James Joyce’s family, Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, and the Druid Company of Ireland’s rendition of The Cripple of Inishman.
And now, at the Odyssey, a very peculiar one-man show called Forgotten, starring Irish actor Pat Kinevane, who has been hailed as an “international phenomenon.” “Phenomenon” is an appropriate word, though not necessarily a compliment.
Kinevane’s dialogue is rendered in a thick brogue, replete with so many idiomatic Irishisms that he might as well be speaking in tongues—or Gaelic. And to enhance the confusion, when he isn’t striding around nearly naked he is engulfed in a long Japanese kimono and striking Kabuki poses. As the King of Siam would say, ‘tis a puzzlement.
The plot, as near as I could make out, deals with four people, two men and two women, shunted aside and institutionalized for the outrageous crime of having grown old. They tell their tales and ruminate about death between episodes of Kabuki posturing, plus a sequence where Kinevane paints his face in a white mask, and another where he parades around making strange noises with his mouth and spitting on the stage.
He periodically addresses two women in the audience, discusses his favorite brands of makeup, hands out marshmallows, and makes up a chant for Alzheimer’s victims: “What do we want? We don’t know. When do we want it? Who?”
This strange production, written by Kinevane and directed by Jim Culleton, artistic director of Fishamble, an award-winning company from Dublin, has been seen in 60 Irish venues, eight European countries, and New York, Boston, and Washington D.C.
To give credit where it’s due, many in the Odyssey audience thought it was both exquisitely moving and profound. Frankly, I didn’t get it, but maybe it was just me…
Forgotten will continue at the Odyssey, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in Los Angeles Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 through December 4th. Call (310) 477-2055 for ticket
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Citron is Los Angeles bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World. She may be contacted at cynthia.citron@sdjewishworld.com