Weir and Other Plays

Rating:
Summary: Pretty bad actually!
Review: Annoyed though I am, as a young Irish playwright, to admit it, Conor McPherson's The Weir is the best Irish play of the Nineties. It's sharply observed (I love the jostling for position that the men do in the presence of the young woman), beautifully written - McPherson can make even ordering a drink into a loaded moment - and it's a gift to actors. His other work, generally in monologue form, is in my opinion less successful, but that's more due to the contradictory and frustrating nature of the form than the line-to-line quality of the writing, which is never less than excellent. Question is, how in the world does he make it look so easy?

Rating:
Summary: A great play
Review: Annoyed though I am, as a young Irish playwright, to admit it, Conor McPherson's The Weir is the best Irish play of the Nineties. It's sharply observed (I love the jostling for position that the men do in the presence of the young woman), beautifully written - McPherson can make even ordering a drink into a loaded moment - and it's a gift to actors. His other work, generally in monologue form, is in my opinion less successful, but that's more due to the contradictory and frustrating nature of the form than the line-to-line quality of the writing, which is never less than excellent. Question is, how in the world does he make it look so easy?

Rating:
Summary: in response to the 2 star raters
Review: i feel that your comments on the master that is conor mcpherson
are very unjustified. one of you talked of the lack of dialogue and over use of monologue; in response to that i would just like to say that you dont have to have dialogue to be powerful and obviously you haven't seen it performed on stage to see its power and humour. as for its constant referencing to alcohol and puke well what else do you expect from a recovering alcholic and im sorry but again if you were to see this performed you would see that this referencing brings humour to his plays but also makes you think afterwards and feel sorry for the characters. it also touchs a nerve as near enough everyone knows someone with a drink problem. im sorry if i seen harsh by defending him but your comments are unjustified and im sorry if the world isnt the perfect place you see it to be but playwrights dont want to write about buttercups and how everything is fine and dandy in the world because it isnt and if it was the world would be a pretty boring place. you know what drink happens, puke happens and its interesting so why not write about it? this man is a master he uses the ordinary and gives you insight into peoples lives and this is what makes him a great playwright not his use of dialogue!

Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: I found this play hauntingly original. The quality of writing by McPherson is breathtaking. Every time I read the climactic monologue by the female character I can't help but well up inside. Read this play from one of the most talented young playwrights in years.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty bad actually!
Review: I read this book cover to cover. There was not one good play in the bunch. The playwright does have a gift for storytelling but not for drama. The Weir, the first play in the book is the only one where there is dialogue. The other five plays are all monologues. Mcpherson tells stories very well but that doesnt cut it. The subject matter is repulsively discusting. Every character is a drunk. I mean a REAL drunk. If you could go through the plays and do an inventory on the alcohol consumed, you could fill a LARGE pool. Another popular liquid with Mcpherson is puke. His character are constantly throwing up all over everywhere. I really could not get into this work.

Rating:
Summary: I liked the poster... :)
Review: If you are in New York do pick up a ticket for The Weir, playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre on 48th Street. There has been,I know, an Irish invasion of Broadway lately,but this one is the brightest star.

Rating:
Summary: Sneaks up on you
Review: It takes a while to get into "The Weir". McPherson takes his own sweet time setting up setting, characterization and atmosphere. Not knowing where it was all going my attitude was one of well I guess it's a "local color" play with some flashes of wit. Then once all the characters onstage and the stories begin, it turns into a page-turner. Then the stories get progressively spookier and sadder and more poignant. The grave-digging story actually did give me the heebie-jeebies for quite a while just reading it. Then of course there's Valerie's story and you get an entierly new persepective on what being "haunted" means.

St Nicholas, the play I read last of the collection is probably the next best play in the book. As I was reading it I was thinking that it was just another "Rum and Voldka" only with an older protagonist. The twist which comes in at the end of part one sounds so off the wall, but is handled so believably, that I found myself scratching my head at the end of it wondering how he managed it.

My two favorite plays in the collection are both the "supernatural" ones, yet I don't consider McPherson a supernatural writer in the vein of a Stephen King or a Peter Straub. Because despite the supernatural occurences in these two plays, what the plays are really about is what it means to be human.