The Smuggler – An Irish American Iliad or What?

Michael Patrick Trimm is Tim Finnegan in"The Smuggler" Credit: Max Mitchell

   

  Talk about storytelling! Playwright Ronan Noone has concocted several good ones into a seamless whole in his rhyme-based, one man play, The Smuggler.

Two years in the making, Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre‘s plans to mount a production locally, didn’t seem be able to tap into the proverbial luck of the Irish. The company’s first choice of venue, the Riley Pour House in Carnegie burned to the ground before the show could open.

Things didn’t get any easier when PICT’s actor of choice to play the role, Michael Patrick Trimm, accepted another  role in a production of King James at the Cleveland Playhouse.

The stars finally aligned for PICT when both actor and new venue conjoined and the humor-laden “thriller” finally got underway last Friday, March 13, four days before St. Patrick’s Day, at Carnegie Stage in Carnegie.

Enter the intimate theater and you’ll be greeted by the comeliest set I ever laid eyes on at the Carnegie Stage, thanks to scenic designer, Johnmichael Bohach. With lights down low, the handsome bar to the rear of the stage is dazzlingly lit with aquamarine lights and flanked by welcoming stools. Surrounding this major stage element are a scattering of small cabaret tables and chairs warmed by the glow of small yellow lamps. It’s a cheery sight, indeed.

Michael Patrick Trimm is Tim Finnegan in"The Smuggler" Credit: Max Mitchell

Whoever thought of the idea to start the play with the singing sound of an Irish tin whistle playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” deserves a pat on the back. It thematically unites the play’s only character, Irish immigrant, Tim Finnegan, to his new home in Amity, Massachusetts, a town where wealthier residents unenthusiastically comingle with those not quite as well-heeled.

An aspiring writer with American Dream illusions, Finnegan supports his wife, Tina, and their sickly child as a bartender. Even though he eventually loses his job, we see him behind the bar whenever he’s not mingling with the audience left, right and, center.

A multi-tasker, Trimm not only is spot on in his convoluted storytelling, you’ll actually see him mixing mocktails like a seasoned barkeep for some of the lucky onlookers seated at the tables. One of the specialty drinks called the Smuggler, a mix of Grenadine, coconut water, banana simple, pineapple and orange and lime juice, is served at table by the handsome mixologist. Slainte!

Exacerbating his economic woes is a recent tragic car wreck involving the son of one of the town’s wealthy residents and an illegal immigrant. The son died; the immigrant, while severely injured, didn’t. As an immigrant citizen, Finnegan is susceptible to the evolving clash of cultures

As a new arrival but now a citizen, Finnegan is seduced by the idea of getting into the human trafficking enterprise operating furtively on the island. The question arises as to what moral limits a person would suspend to keep his family housed, clothed and fed, not to mention getting them the necessary health care.

It doesn’t take long to see why PICT was determined to bring Trimm to its stage in the role. The young actor is masterful in not only getting the rhymed monologue down pat, but he also is successful in creating a realistic, mostly likeable character despite some of the questionable actions he commits.

He’s also called upon the portray several other people referred to in the narrative by means of gesture, tone of voice and accent, coached along by dialect maven, Lisa Bansavage.

This tale of survival touches on many issues at work at the moment – the cost of health care, the plight of immigrants, the implications of economic inequality and the travails posed by unemployment and financial distress and the measures one might take to overcome them.

Michael Patrick Trimm is Tim Finnegan in "The Smuggler" Credit: Max Mitchell

    Trimm is definitely a charmer, a polished actor who has command of his lines, sometimes encouraging the audience to fill in the end of a stanza with an obvious and relevant rhyming word. Both the author and the actor bring to life a fearsome story of a rat encounter in the basement of the bar but are equally adept at introducing lighthearted, often humorous moments as well.

Director Melissa Hill Grande skillfully navigates Trimm over the stage and sometimes even into the audience which amplifies the performance’s intimate and proximate aura.

The overall collaboration of playwright, actor, director and production crew is highly successful. Timm’s performance alone is something to savor. Years from now, he and the production just might be considered one of the most memorable one-man shows to have ever graced a Pittsburgh stage.

See it now so you can join in with the other folks who can have bragging rights to have witnessed this salient piece of theatrical prowess.

Ronan Noone’s The Smuggler is at the Carnegie Stage, 25 W Main St, in Carnegie through March 22. For tickets, go to https://www.picttheatre.org/.