Barre hits with intense, lyrical `Translations'.

Byline: Paul Kolas

COLUMN: THEATER REVIEW

BARRE - It's clear from the outset that Brian Friel's rich, emotionally resonant "Translations" is a labor of love for director Sandy Pickens. From David Henshaw's precisely designed set - a rustic, autumnal-colored barn serving as a Hedge School in 1833 rural Ireland - to the high caliber of acting by the entire cast, Barre Players' beautifully realized production brimmed with delicacy, intimacy, lively humor, and lyrical rumination on Sunday afternoon. It's a subtle work that deftly examines the boundaries of language and cultural exchange, and how those intrinsic barriers can be amusing, frustrating, and - regrettably - tragic.

The story centers around the efforts of a British Army of Royal Engineers to anglicize Ireland by renaming every town, road, body of water, etc., into the English equivalent of their Gaelic counterpart. Some of the residents of the fictional town of Ballybeg in County Donegal don't take too kindly to this transition, especially Doalty Dan Doalty (Christopher O'Conner) and Bridget (Ginny Catanese), who play sport with the two British soldiers - Capt. Lancey (Harry Pearson) and Lt. Yolland (Justin Andrade) - who can't understand a word of Gaelic, and have to rely on their translator, Owen (Aaron Littlefield) to bridge the communication gap.

Owen has returned to Ballybeg after a six-year sojourn to Dublin and tries his best to mollify the tensions that arise between his English colleagues and the locals. Owen's younger brother, Manus (Aaron Pearson), has assumed temporary teaching duties at the Hedge School until his father, Hugh Mor O'Donnell (Richard Zuscak), dries out after a drinking bout. Manus dreams of marrying his betrothed, Maura (Kara Krantz), who has dreams of her own - leaving Ireland for America. Complicating matters is Lt. Yolland's burgeoning love for Ireland in general, and the reciprocating Maura in particular, and when Lt. Yolland is

mysteriously missing and is thought to have come to harm - or worse - by the British, Manus becomes the prime suspect and flees. Friel ambiguously leaves Lt. Yolland's fate open-ended, but there are intimations voiced by Bridget and Doalty that twin brothers, progenitors of the IRA, may have had something to do with Lt. Yolland's disappearance.

Considering the complexity of the play, Friel simplifies things by having his Irish characters speak in English, even though they're actually conversing in Gaelic. Pickens has gone to great lengths to have her cast enunciate with authentic County Donnegal accents, and everyone has repaid her with wonderfully evocative performances. Zuscak's Hugh is so commandingly eloquent that the audience burst into applause after his trenchant observation that "words are not immortal... a civilization can be imprisoned in a linguistic contour which no longer matches the landscape of fact."

Hugh's etymological musings with his lifelong friend, Jimmy Jack Cassie (Philip Hubbard) are delightfully rendered tests of Greek and Latin knowledge. Hubbard's Jimmy Jack escapes into the unreality of Greek mythology - telling Hugh he's going to marry Athena - to avoid the pain of addressing his broken soul.

Krantz and Andrade play Maura and Lt. Yolland's attempt to communicate their feelings for each other with sweet, funny frustration. They make abundantly clear that the language of love isn't as universally comprehensible as we'd like to think. The only English that Maura can muster up is the nonsensical, "In Norfolk, we besport ourselves around the maypole."

It's sadly ironic that Lt. Yolland's love for Maura and Ireland also embraces the language he's there to replace with his own. Catanese and O'Conner contribute vibrant, wonderfully vigorous performances as Bridget and Doalty. Littlefield is an impressively fervent, well-meaning presence as Owen. Aaron Pearson does a nice job of conveying Manus' sensitive nature, a man heartbroken by his sweetheart and cast adrift from his own country.

His father, Harry Pearson, portrays Capt. Lancey with a suitably stern and officious demeanor.

Irini Nicolaidou is well cast as Sarah, a socially constricted young woman who barely speaks beyond saying her own name. In a play that revels in language and its limitations, she is an intriguing enigma in this excellent production.

`Translations'

* * * *

Written by Brian Friel, directed by Sandy Pickens. At the Barre Players Theater, 64 Common St., Barre. Performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $14 general admission, $12 seniors, $10 full-time students with ID, $7 children 12 & under. Call [phone] or [phone] for reservations. With Richard Zuscak, Aaron Littlefield, Kara Krantz, Justin Andrade, Phillip Hubbard, Aaron Pearson, Christopher O'Conner, Ginny Catanese, Irini Nicolaidou and Harry Pearson.

Key to the Stars

* * * * ... Hot Stuff

* * * ... Good Job

* * ... Not Bad

* ... Never Mind