Journal report

Island Stage Left presents “Shining City” by Conor McPherson, but be forewarned, you may be haunted by this piece of theatre.

“A psychological ghost story, interspersed with wry humor and filled with truth and compassion. As Hamlet says. ‘There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” said Island Stage Left’s founder Helen Machin-Smith.

The play will be shown at San Juan County Fairgrounds at the Marie Boe Building on Nov. 13 through Dec. 6. It opens Friday the 13th and thereafter plays Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. There are additional performances on Wednesday, Dec. 2 and no performance on Thanksgiving.

Daniel Mayes plays John, a man who sees his wife’s ghost, David Foubert plays Ian, an ex-priest turned therapist, Krista Strutz plays Neasa, Ian’s girlfriend and Ty Boice plays Lawrence, a young drifter.

“The cast is absolutely top notch,” said Machin-Smith.

John, a recently bereaved sales rep, is haunted by the presence of his dead wife. In a series of confessional encounters with his Dublin therapist, Ian, a former priest, reveals the hoarded guilt that rationally explains an irrational phenomenon. But the audience will learn in two complementary scenes, but Ian has his own demons and ghosts to lay.

“We always look for the best written scripts and this one, by Conor McPherson who is arguably Ireland’s most successful young playwright and recipient of over twelve major play-writing awards is fantastically well-written,” said Machin-Smith. “ISL is especially excited to produce a ghost story that is much more than spooky. It is a play about the yearning for human connection and is full of wonderful characters that allow fine actors to delve deep. I always hope to find for scripts that make us look at ourselves, that “hold the mirror up to nature”, that are not simplistic in their view of humanity, but that offer hope.”

The dead continue to haunt the living in the very particular cosmos of Conor McPherson, but anyone expecting his new play, “Shining City,” to be a gloomy downer is in for a surprise.

The play comes laced with a compassion that makes the moment-by-moment experience of it a near-constant delight.

Not suitable for children under the age of 13.

Machin-Smith said the most difficult aspect of the production has been the schedule. “The building of a realistic set,” she added. “Finding the balance between pain and humor, the line between the unconscious and the supernatural, solitude and connection.”

For more information about Island Stage Left, visit their website.