Visiting Mr. Green, Viking Theatre, Dublin

Jeff Baron's first play, Visiting Mr. Green, has finally arrived in Ireland. 1996 was its first outing, before finding a slot in New York, and then flying around the world, including the West End. The team that brought us Tuesdays With Morrie has brought us Mr. Green, a lonely, curmudgeonly Jew who has recently buried his wife of 59 years, and not one argument, he tells Ross Gardiner, an American Express executive who is only dropping around because a court has ordered him to do so having nearly knocked Mr Green down (the surnames did bring a grin to my face - Green and Gardiner. Maybe it's just me.)  Needless to say we have chalk and cheese here, and will it blossom into an unlikely friendship is perhaps not a question but more a statement. 

Similarities with Morrie are hard not to notice, perhaps it was inspired by it. This play is set in New York, Pauline Naughton's apartment set, conjuring up the old Americana feel of the large, brick building with families living on each floor, is brought to life in detail, the old flowery wallpaper helping, as well as the wooden doors. In this room, compete with kitchen to one side, transforming the Viking Theatre space, beliefs will come out, even traditions, some in a Tevye style. In the end it is an entertaining play, although the odd time I did wonder if it was set in the here and now, or maybe the 1980s. Although as we are finding out, beliefs, traditions, religion and intolerance are not bound by time or place. 

The true strength of the piece is in the exquisite performances from Andrew Murray (Ross) and Terry Byrne (Mr Green). They are a delight to behold, making it all look deceptively easy, and their skill draws us into the fabric of the play and makes it all believable and likeable. As in Morrie they work very well together, and it is really the performances, the rhythm between the two, helped by Breda Cashe's direction, that breathes life, love and pain into this odd couple. At one point Byrne conveys brilliantly and touchingly the emotion and pain of having lost his wife through not wanting to let go the dead flowers in a simple, direct, everyday way.

The first meeting between the two men shows some wonderfully good dialogue, the comedy emerging from the situation and characters, as it goes back and forth, tight and natural, all in all, a smart start. As their uncertain beginning thaws, aspects of their life come to the fore: both men are Jewish, one Kosher, one not, a first bond between them. The comic lines are good, and in the hands of Byrne, they shine, and by the end of the first act, Ross tells Mr Green that he is gay. Something the older man, in his eighties, does not react to well.

From there, it does walk the line between soapbox and play, to be fair staying inside the 'play' lines, but flying close to the wind, so to speak, as Ross and Mr Green spar verbally with each other. Ross's fear is of coming out fully both in terms of work and parents' reaction, as he delivers food to the elderly man, who has his own skeleton in a daughter who married outside the faith and his own reaction to it governed by rules and tradition.

It is an entertaining evening, and despite the ups and downs, it has a big heart and is uplifting by it's end. It is a straightforward tale, aided by two skilfull actors who bring out the best in the script and characters as it moves through a few issues without ever getting too full of itself, and delivering some good comic lines along the way, and never forgetting that it is about two characters and their own relationship.