THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD

 

The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge.

Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin. Set and costume design by Katie Davenport. Lighting by James Farncombe. Sound Designer Adrienne Quartley. Composer Anna Mullarkey. Movement director. Sue Mythen. Starring Nicola Coughlin, Siobhan McSweeney, Eanna Hardwicke. Lyttleton Theatre. National Theatre of Britain. NT Live. Dendy Cinema. Until July 1 2026

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

The cast of NT Live's The Playboy of the Western World

Two striking thoughts occurred to me as I watched NT Live’s screening of the National Theatre’s production of John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. One, that I wished I was watching this powerful staging of Synge’s classic live and two, thank goodness for NT Live that enables audiences thousands of miles away to become immersed in such outstanding theatre. In the comfort of intimate Cinema 6 at Dendy in Canberra, Catriona McLaughlan’s authentic and evocative production of The Playboy of the Western World loses some of the impact and visceral response of sharing a live performance with a theatre full of audience riveted by the production and the performances of an amazing cast under McLaughlan’s direction. It loses none of the drama and the lyrical power of Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World.

Nicola Coughlin as Pegeen Flaherty

In 1907 when was first performed in Dublin’s famous Abbey Theatre, Ireland was experiencing a literary revival. However, today it is difficult to understand why the Abbey performance should have provoked riots by people who felt that it portrayed immorality and cast a slight against Irish patriotism. In 2026 the plot, so skillfully woven by Synge with drama, suspense and surprise appears far less outrageous, rather a revealing depiction of Irish cultural and social life in a rural village in Ireland. Today it reveals the vacillating inconsistency of the human condition, set against a background of parochial isolation and human frailty. The plot, at times seemingly implausible is a reminder of humanity’s predilection to impulse without reason and the need for love and belonging.

Éanna Hardwicke as Christy Mahon

 McLaughlan’s production opens with a parade of widows, clothed entirely in black and traversing the back of the stage through sheets of rain. The procession is funerial, pagan in its ritualistic procession, a village rite of religious absolution. They are accompanied by a fiddler (Erin Hennessey). Is this the fate that will befall all who suffer the isolation of loss and loneliness? It is ironic that The Playboy of the Western World should be regarded as unpatriotic or an offense to public morality.

Shawn Keogh (Marty Rea) and Widow Quin (Siobhan McSweeney

Synge constructs a relatively simple plot. The play is set in a tavern owned by Michael Flaherty (Lorcan Cranitch) and run by his barmaid daughter Pegeen Flaherty (Nicola Coughlan ) in a small rural village on Ireland’s west coast. Also at the tavern are Pegeen’s hopeful betrothed Shawn Keogh (Marty Rea ), and farmers, Philly Cullen (Matthew Forrest) and Jimmy Farrel (Naoise Dunbar). Christy Mahon (Eanna Hardwicke) enters seeking refuge and claiming to be fleeing the police after he had killed his father. Much to Shawn’s distress, Pegeen and Christy fall in love and Shawn entreats Widow Quin (Sioban McSweeney) to seduce Mahon away from Pegeen. Old Mahon (Declan Conlon) arrives with a bleeding scalp, but alive and seeks his son. Widow Quin sends him on a wild goose chase and Mahon becomes a hero when he wins a mule race on the slowest horse, much to the amazement of the villagers and the women who hail him as their hero. Things take a rather implausible turn for the worse when Old Mahon reappears, is chased into the fields by Christy and struck again. The village then turns against Christy for murdering his father and attempt to lynch him, urged on by the disillusioned Pegeen. In yet another melodramatic turn of events, Old Mahon reappears, more battered than before but surprisingly alive and he and Christy depart with a parting comment by Christy to Pegeen that he will continue to search out new villages to become their hero. A distraught Pegeen sinks to the floor with a heart wrenching wail, “I have lost my Playboy of the Western World” as the curtain falls.

Eanna Hardwicke (Christy Mahon) and
Nicola Coughlin (Pegeen Flaherty 

In the promotion before the movie begins Benedict Cumberbatch promises audiences the best seat in the house and the camera draws us in to the character and the action. Wide shots and closeups alternate to reveal Katie Davenport’s set design with its authentic recreation of the tavern in which the action takes place. Close ups draw us into the relationships, capturing the intimate moment, yet always maintaining the theatricality of the production. NT Live is a theatrical experience captured on film and yet expressing all the drama of the play upon a stage, as Cumberbatch promised. It allows us to enter the lives of the characters to witness the simpleness and complexity of their lives. Catriona has retained the period in a production that is thoroughly authentic, engrossing and entertaining. The performances too are entirely authentic, transporting us to the world of characters, creating a world long past and people who suffer and survive as people have for all time, ordinary folk trying to survive and cope with what life throws at them. Pegeen seeks escape. Christy seeks love and adulation. Flaherty finds relief in alcohol. Widow Quin seeks companionship and Shawn seeks the comfort that convention and conformity can bring.and conformity can bring. 

Shawn Keogh (Marty Rea) and Widow Quin (Siobhan McSweeney)

McLaughlan's’s direction is clear and insightful. Every moment of the production captures the spirit of Synge’s play, its themes of the human need for belonging, love, freedom and security. An extraordinary cast breathe fresh life into Synge’s century old play. As Pegeen Flaherty McLough reveals a young woman desperate for love and the promise of a better life. Hardwicke gives an extraordinary performance as the complicated Christy Mahon, caught in a myth of his own making. Cranitch’s crusty alcoholic father perfectly portrays his search for salvation to one’s meaningless life that alcohol provides. There is pathos in McSweeney’s Widow Quin, and the pain of unrequited love in Rea’s Keough. There is excellent support from Conlon’s Old Mahon and the ensemble of widowed mourners doubling as the village maidens.

Lorcan Cranitch as Michael 

Lorcan Cranitch as Michael Flaherty

It is the authenticity of the National Theatre’s revival of Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World that is so impressive. It may take a short time to tune in to the lyrical rhythm and accents of Synge’s text and the actors’ Irish dialect, but Synge’s power as a dramatist, forging a new tradition and his affection for and understanding of the Irish folk and the excellent performances by the cast in a production that will capture your imagination and rekindle passion for a play that inspired a theatrical revolution. NT Live’s screening of the National Theatre’s production of The Playboy of the Western World is a gift not to be missed.