The Abbey Theatre

ABBEY THEATRE PRESENTS: TERMINUS

Maryland Community News Online

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Angels and Demons

‘Terminus' to rise at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

by Nathan Oravec | Staff Writer

If the devil, as they say, is in the details, it can only be imagined Irish playwright Mark O'Rowe's notebook is riddled with a legion of rhyming words.

O'Rowe's latest opus, "Terminus," is a complex, often brutal tale of avenging angels, murderers and lovelorn demons. And it is written entirely in contemporary verse.

"It doesn't originally play that way, which is a testimony to the actors," says Paul Brohan, director of artistic initiatives for the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, where the play will be unveiled tonight courtesy of Ireland's national Abbey Theatre.

"The Abbey Theatre is legendary," Brohan says of the heralded institution that began touring the United States a century ago. With O'Rowe's play arriving stateside for a seven-city engagement, Brohan leaped at the opportunity to bring it to College Park. "‘Terminus' was touring the U.S. and it didn't seem, in my research, that anyone was picking up on it throughout our region. I thought it was a good fit for us."

Three actors — Olwen Fouéré, Catherine Walker and Declan Conlon — portray nameless protagonists; among them a suicide hotline operator, her estranged daughter and a coolly detached serial killer. Perched on shards of broken glass — the impressive, implosive result of a mirror shattered onto their world — the trio's dynamic,

Photo by Ros Kavanagh Ireland's national Abbey Theatre will bring Mark O'Rowe's provocative play "Terminus" to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center tonight and Friday. (From left) Catherine Walker, Declan Conlon and Olwen Fouéré.

Like the rest of the touring cast, Irish actress Fouéré has been with the production only since January. Her unnamed help line operator, known simply as character A, has all but abandoned hope, but Fouéré seems to be enjoying the journey of discovery.

"I never work in terms of character," she says of the role. "I tend to work from where the text is leading me. It's a continuous process."

Thanks to O'Rowe, Fouéré has been given quite a bit of text to work with.

"What attracts me to Mark's work is the unique texture of his language," she says. "With the honorable exception of Tom Murphy — who is without question Ireland's greatest living playwright — Mark is one of [the few] who does experiment with various forms. And that's what I love about him. There's an individual kind of rhythm and musicality to his work. For me, that's more interesting than story."

Fouéré notes that this new cast has yet to perform "Terminus" for Irish audiences, but is reveling in the reactions it has drawn thus far from U.S. crowds.

"They were seemingly more vocal, which is really satisfying as an actor — to see an audience laugh or gasp in horror," she says.

The play's savagery, she says, is made even more intense because it is not visualized. Instead, that seed of brutality is planted in the mind.

"It's definitely very interesting. It is an increasingly graphic play, but the violence is never painted in images. The play elicits the imagination of the audience. They feel as though they are seeing them. We feel that we see them." Then, with a laugh, she adds, "Well, it depends on how well we do."

Brohan is enthusiastic that the Clarice Smith center landed such a groundbreaking piece.

"What I find intriguing is the play's portrayal of conventional, Irish urban culture," he says. "It's gritty, profane and contemporary. It's provocative and confrontational."

"Terminus," he says, also will be presented at the arts center's smallest black box performance space, the Kogod Theatre.

"I believe the impact of the play in such an intimate setting will be very powerful," says Brohan, who had originally seen a New York staging of "Terminus" several years ago.

"I was intrigued and emboldened by it," he recalls. "The piece has a real emotional impact. You walk away being forced to think about what you just witnessed. It challenges you on very different levels."

And it ropes you in.

"When you tap into the audience's imagination, it makes them an active participant," says Fouéré. "They become more complicit in the entire thing.

noravec@gazette.net