St John Ervine's Mixed Marriage was first produced in the Abbey Theatre in 1911, and is something of an odd choice for a new group seeking to make an impact. No doubt the Sionnach Theatre Company, which has created its own little theatre in Temple Bar, chose it for its relevance to the present tensions in Northern Ireland; but it remains something of a stage dodo.
The Rainey family are Protestant working class and include a bigoted father, a tolerant mother and two sons with liberal instincts. The elder son loves a Catholic girl, and both have Catholic friends outside the house.
There is a workers' strike, and the father has the influence to keep sectarianism out of it if he chooses. But he finds out about his son's matrimonial intentions, and is blinded by his rancour.
It is interesting, in a detached way, to contemplate this picture of Northern attitudes before partition, and to reflect on the steady downhill trend of events to the knife-edge on which they rest today. But, as drama, the scenario here is drawn in black and white, the plot overly contrived and the characters representative rather than real; it is fixed in its time.
The production, directed and designed by Robert Lane, is solidly old-fashioned, a faithful interpretation of the script. It elicits credible performances from the six actors, with Anthony Fox's elder son and Margo McLaughlin's mother to the fore; Kevin Bannon, Thomas Power, Catriona McLaughlin and Paul Burke also do well with their material.
Runs to September 6th; booking at 01-6703361