John B. Keane's 1959 drama Sive is an odd and contradictory beast in which sentimentality vies with cynicism, and mellifluous language cloaks some rather hoary melodramatics. The Irish Repertory Theatre has mounted a handsome production (directed by Ciarรกn O'Reilly) with an animated cast, but whether that's enough to transcend the script's shortcomings depends on one's tolerance for suds.
Anyone familiar with Irish rural drama will surely recognize these peasants of the old sod, who are just saved from excessive picturesqueness by their venality and ill temper. There's elderly, sharp-tongued Nanna (Terry Donnelly), smoking her long-stemmed clay pipe by the fireside; bitter, spud-scrubbing Mena (Fiana Toibin), who detests Nanna and says things like "Saints preserve us" and even a wandering tinker (Donie Carroll) in a stovepipe hat. (How did Keane forget the tippling parish priest?) Under the influence of unscrupulous matchmaker Thomasheen (Patrick Fitzgerald), Mena arranges to marry off her school-age niece Sive (Wrenn Schmidt) to wealthy but ancient farmer Sean Dota (Christopher Joseph Jones). He may own "the grass of 20 cows" and a chamber pot under every bed, but Sean Dota is also a half-senile old goat who tries to molest his bride-to-be on a country road and is heard to mutter gloating and lecherous things about town. Poor Sive is the ultimate powerless innocent, regarded by her scheming family as little more than a bargaining chip.
Although ignored at the time, the play has gone on to become part of the standard repertory in its native country. Keane, who is best known for The Field, has a felicity with language that gives the whole thing more credibility than its standard plot would ordinarily warrant and ensures that Sive engages the ear even as we hear the play's joints creaking.
Presented by and at the Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 W. 22nd St., NYC. Sept. 27-Nov. 25. Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 3 p.m. (212) 727-2737 or www.irishrep.org. Casting by Laura Maxwell-Scott.