Irish Writer’s Faith Healer at the Unicorn Theatre
There’s still a week left of the current run of Brian Friel’s “Faith Healer” at the Unicorn.
Told in 4 monologues, “Faith Healer” tells a series of important events in the life of an Irish healer, the eponymous Frank Hardy, who endlessly tours the villages and hamlets of Britain with his partner Grace and his Cockney manager, Teddy. However each character remembers the facts differently.
Robert Trussell in the Kansas City Star says that “Seldom will you see a play more haunting” and calls this uncorn production “compelling”.
The premier Irish dramatist captures what we so often find in the theater of his homeland – an innate darkness in the human spirit coexisting with the world’s astonishing beauty. “Faith Healer,” an extraordinary play by any measure, is as life affirming as it is bleak. Few playwrights possess the skill to accomplish such a feat.
Russ Simmons in the KC Community News reckons it’s hard work and demands close attention but for those who put the effort in is very rewarding.
Alan Scherstuhl in the Pitch uses stronger words.
Describing it as “a brutal slog sporadically brightened by bursts of transcendence” and despite some moments of glory and a tremendous performance by Mark Robbins, also as “an Iditarod across a miserable continent, through a white-out of words.”
Faith Healer runs runs through May 18 at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main St., Kansas City, Missouri.
For information, call (816) 531-7529.
When I can find the time I’ll stick the performances on the KC Irish events calendar
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