Valerie, played by Susan Dergoul, and Brendan (left), played by Jason Watts, listen to Jack, played by George Nelson, tell a story in "The Weir" at Heller Theater.
Valerie, played by Susan Dergoul, and Brendan (left), played by Jason Watts, listen to Jack, played by George Nelson, tell a story in "The Weir" at Heller Theater.
Below: Everyone listens as Finbar, played by Edmund Chandlee (left), tells a story to Valerie in "The Weir." In the background is Jim, played by Wayne Kruse (left), and Jack, played by George Nelson. In the foreground is Brendan, played by Jason Watts.
Photos by STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World
In Conor McPherson's 1998 Olivier Award-winning play about a Dublin transplant who moves to a remote Irish town and finds herself at a local pub surrounded by bachelors trying to impress her with ghost stories, "The Weir" means a lesson or two about the other side invading real life.
Bottom line, "The Weir" itself is a good story, says Heller Theater artistic director Julie Tattershall, and she couldn't think of any better research for staging the play than a night of storytelling.
So she and her cast one recent
night abandoned the black box
stage for the black of night, taking
up residence at a Heller Park picnic
table. The setting offered
something 
similar to the play's
atmosphere of intimacy as well as isolation at the tiny
town pub.
"Hey, I can't ask my actors to do something that I wouldn't do, so I went first and told the ghost story that happened at Heller," Tattershall said coyly, refusing to divulge the details for print.
"Then they told personal stories and ghost stories — and they were all true, just like in the play. I think that if you talk to people, many of us have run into some form of the paranormal or something, like when you were kids and you sat around and told ghost stories and you hear something. You don't know if it was your imagination or if you really saw or heard something.
"Hey, we had fun out there in the park. We just needed a campfire."
In the play, Valerie (portrayed by Susan Dergoul) is the mysterious outsider, who brings with her the promise of a new lease on life. Finbar (Ed Chandlee) is the local real estate magnate who's sold Valerie a home — which may or may not be haunted. Jack, Jim and Brendan (Wayne Kruse, George Nelson and Jason Watts) are the local bachelors in this stirring tale of people losing and looking for kindred spirits.
It's a conversational drama that playwright McPherson based on his youth. A city boy who would occasionally make his way out to rural Ireland, he discovered extreme culture shock and learned the fascinating fables of a small village.
"I think this play is about the sense of community, and how we're all connected," Tattershall said. "What I love about the work is that it takes you on this rollercoaster ride, from the highs of people laughing and acting full of themselves, to them dealing with some of the crises that we all have to face. It's a good story, a very neat ride of emotions."
The director did gather the cast and crew for one other night of research recently, making a date at Kilkenny's Irish Pub to hoist a few pints and, of course, tell some stories.
"Anyone can tell a story, and everybody has a story," Tattershall said. "I got a bumper sticker for my birthday. It says, 'A normal person is someone you don't know well.' I love that."
Note: Audience members can arrive early to hear traditional Irish music performed live at the theater by local musician Eric Ryan-Johnson on Friday and Saturday and again May 10, beginning about 7:15 p.m., Tattershall said.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; also 8 p.m. May 8-10, 2003
Where: Heller Theater, 5328 S. Wheeling Ave.
Tickets: $5-$7, may be purchased at the door or reserved by calling 746-5065
Note: This play contains mature subject matter