The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge directed Mark A. Rhea Photo Gallery Church Street Theater 1742 Church Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 Dupont Circle area - between 17th & 18th and Q & P Streets, N.W. Nearby Parking Garage Performances Feb 17 - Mar 19, 2005 Thur, Fri, Sat - 8 PM Sun matinees - 2 PM

In 1907, The Playboy of the Western World premiered at the Abbey Theatre, in the heart of Dublin, and instantly caused a firestorm of controversy among Irish patriots. J.M. Synge's candid yet poetic writing, which echoed the lives of peasants and fishing families he had come to know on the western coast of Ireland and the Aran Islands, struck a nerve with Irish audiences. "Synge's unromanticized, satiric treatment of the Irish peasantry -considered sacrosanct to many nationalists- and its (for the time) shocking language provoked a controversies that continued after the author's early death" (Dover Press).

Today, Playboy is considered one of Synge's greatest accomplishments, a masterwork of Irish lyrical language and a tale told with sweetness and humor. Indeed, this play is widely recognized as changing the face of Irish theater forever. The play follows the progress of its young hero as he changes, in the eyes and perceptions of others, from timid weakling to paragon of bravery.

The Keegan Theatre production is directed by Keegan's artistic director, Mark A. Rhea, who received a Helen Hayes nomination in the category of Outstanding Director for his direction of Brian Friel's Translations; Rhea also directed Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa, which won Keegan the 2000 Mary Goldwater Award for Outstanding Production. Other plays by J. M. Synge that Rhea has directed on Keegan's stage are Riders to the Sea and In the Shadow of the Glen. 

The play stars Carlos Bustamante as Christy Mahon. Bustamante's last appearance on the Keegan stage (Nick, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) garnered him a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Supporting Actor.

Tickets
Press Release
Production Calendar
Cast and Crew