We saw a Sebastian Barry play recently at the Gaiety Theatre here in Dublin. It featured two brothers living on a farm together in the West of Ireland and we eavesdrop on their reminiscences, philosophies, and prejudices as they take turns walking back and forth in their Irish farmhouse kitchen. It was a long night.
For me what made it tediously long was the unintelligibility of the actors' speeches. Okay, so they have heavy Orish accents, but Holy God, English is the language of Ireland, brogue or not. For me I had to determine what was being said by picking up scraps of dialogue and fitting them together like a jigsaw puzzle. If they were speaking Japanese it would have been the same.
This play ran in New York (review is below) and I would love to know what some unsuspecting New Yorker thought of the language (i.e., the accents).
Below is link to the NY review >
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