New Conor McPherson play opens Monday!

From the S-T review:

Set in contemporary Dublin, "Shining City" focuses on several lost souls still very much on Earth, particularly an untested therapist (who happens to be an ex-priest), and one of his patients -- a middle-age businessman who cannot free himself from ghostly visions of his wife, who died in a horrific car crash.

"What I tried to do in the play was conjure the feeling of actually seeing a ghost and giving that experience an emotional reality," said McPherson. "It was about conjuring normal emotions from supernatural experiences. But there is a reality to it. After all, if you consider the nature of the universe there is so much that is mysterious; there is far more that is unknown than known. And in some ways the supernatural is more natural to me than anything else."

The fascination with ghost stories is a vestige of McPherson's childhood.

"To me, ghost stories were simply a door into another reality," said the writer. "I grew up loving all those films about vampires and zombies, and as a teenager I was a great fan of Stephen King."

But beyond the spectral stuff there was a solid existential quest -- one full of lonely, frightened people who often turned to alcohol, as the author himself did to excess between 1997 and 2001 (at which point he landed in the hospital with severe pancreatitis).

"I'm fundamentally interested in the dilemma of being human," McPherson said. "Sure, you can look at the new Ireland -- the switch from being poor and victimized to be a thriving consumer culture. But that doesn't really change the essential human issues. We still have the same wants, desires, fears, the same quest for a rational life."

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW.

I went to see "The Weir" at the Steppenwolf Theater 7 or 8 years ago. It blew me away. I had never seen a play like that, and I had never seen an audience react like that.
I've seen many, many plays. And I have seen plays where half the house cries. I have seen plays where the standing ovation lasts ten minutes. But nothing prepared me for "The Weir."
The audience (most of us weeping bitterly) sat motionless as the play ended, too scared to move, ashamed of our tears, yet still grief-stricken over a storyline in the play, which had started out with such an innocent, charming ghost story by one of the four characters yet ended with a terrifying, heartwrenching ghost story by another one of the four.
The play was austere - no fancy sets, no fancy costumes.
Just unbelievable acting and brilliant writing. I really felt the story in my heart.

I will not miss a Conor McPherson play, and I would give my eyeteeth to see "The Weir" just once more - to feel that crazy, scary, sorrowful tension again.

He is a genius playwright, unknown to the casual theatergoer and even many seasoned theatergoers. He was only 25 when "The Weir" debuted in 1997, which somewhat explains his non-fame.

If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and see this one. If it's half as good as "The Weir", it's better than 95% of theater today.