(Charles Isherwood’s article appeared in The New York Times, 7/10.)
The Ireland of the painful past, the Ireland of the haunted present and perhaps the Ireland of the future are engaging in fractious battle in “DruidMurphy,” the latest adventure in epic theater-making by the invaluable Druid Theater Company, led by the brilliant director Garry Hynes.
Theater lovers will well remember the company’s triumphant presentation of “DruidSynge,” the cycle of the complete plays of J. M. Synge that roared into New York in 2006 as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. This year the company, based in Galway, returns to the festival with an equally ambitious production, three full-length dramas by the contemporary Irish writer Tom Murphy, whose modest renown in the United States is belied by the breathtaking variety and consistency of his work.