First-rate cast makes masterful 'Faith Healer' a must-see
Francis Hardy is at war with himself.
And his war has produced a great deal of collateral damage, which Frank, his wife, Grace, and manager Teddy testify to in eloquent detail in “Faith Healer,” Brian Friel's dense, gripping drama. Set during the 1950s, “Faith Healer” centers on a hard-drinking Irishman eking out a living (occasionally) curing what afflicts the residents of backwater Welsh and Scottish towns.
“Faith Healer” unfolds as four monologues delivered by the three characters (with Frank's confessions bookending the play), whose slightly different recollections of the same events leave the audience wondering where fiction ends and fact begins.
The structure is unconventional. The action exists in the telling, playing out in the audience's imagination. And the tales the characters tell are at once extraordinary and shocking. Friel himself is something of a tease, parsing out details in bits and pieces, masterfully building suspense until the waning moments when it all comes into focus.
For all that, “Faith Healer” is a moving, immensely satisfying play. It demands first-rate acting and nuanced direction, which Buffalo Theatre Ensemble delivers in a thoroughly captivating revival staged by Brad Armacost and featuring ensemble member Bryan Burke in the title role.
Burke plays Frank, a self-styled faith healer and self-doubting artist (he refers to the healing sessions as “performances”) whose erratic talent may not be talent at all.
“I did it because I could do it,” he says, “and occasionally it worked.”
His acknowledgment that it may all be a con, the nagging fear that he possesses no special gift, fuels his inner turmoil, which manifests itself in cruelty toward the long-suffering Grace (Carolyn Klein) and the genial Teddy (Steve Pringle).
Intoning the names of the towns where he has performed, like a penitent making confession, Frank recalls triumphs (the night in Wales when he healed 10 people) and failures (the return to his native Ireland that does not go as planned). He yields the stage to Grace and then to Teddy, who recount the same events. But the details differ, making it impossible to determine the truth, which drink and despair seem to have permanently obscured from all of them.
From Michael W. Moon's sparsely furnished, dimly lit set consisting of mismatched wooden chairs and a tatty banner promoting the “Fantastic Francis Hardy” to the understated acting, there is nothing superfluous about BTE's production. An unstudied eloquence underscores the show, which benefits from pitch-perfect direction from Armacost, who won a Jeff Award for his performance in TurnAround Theatre's 1995 production of “Faith Healer.”
The acting is superb. As the deeply flawed Frank, Burke anchors the show with a wonderfully self-aware performance that reveals a man whose charisma has waned and has been replaced by resignation and ultimately acceptance.
Like Burke, Klein's vulnerable, affecting turn as the budding barrister who forsakes her privileged upbringing to live in squalor with the man she loves is marked by its artlessness. Kudos to Klein for her portrayal of barely contained desperation.
Last but not least there is Pringle's poignant portrayal of the unfailingly decent, ever genial Teddy, the Cockney showbiz veteran who insists that mixing work and friendship makes for bad business — but fails to follow his own counsel. The play's most broadly drawn character, Teddy also has the greatest emotional range and the charismatic Pringle nails every note.
<b>“Faith Healer”</b>
★ ★ ★ ★
<b>Location: </b>Buffalo Theatre Ensemble at College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn, (690) 942-4000 or <a href="http://www.atthemac.org" target="_blank">atthemac.org</a>
<b>Showtimes: </b>8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through July 24
<b>Running time: </b>About 2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission
<b>Tickets: </b>$23-$33
<b>Parking: </b>Free lot adjacent to theater
<b>Rating: </b>For adults