Theater: Urn of Memory

DA by Hugh Leonard

Irish writers are silkworms in spinning words. They have an abiding sense of the past and have never really lost the oral tradition that makes them grand tellers of tales. The psychology of their land is that of loss, but the loss is borne with salty wit and exuberantly wild fantasy.

Fuse these qualities at their apex and you get an O'Casey. Even a lesser Irish dramatist like Hugh Leonard can be uncommonly rewarding. Da, now at Manhattan's Hudson. Guild Theater, means dad. The play is a fencing match with the ghosts of the past. The blood drawn is...

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