The Chastitute

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin until 14 September 2002.

"A chastitute is a person, without Holy orders, who has never lain down with a woman.a rustic celibate" - John B Keane.

A timely reminder of the talent which was lost to Listowel, Ireland and the world on 30 May this year, 'The Chastitute' is a solid distillation of the strengths of John B Keane - comedy, entertainment, and an unerring grasp of the darkness at the heart of Irish society. The 'chastitute' of the title is bachelor farmer, John Bosco McLaine. Now in his early 50s, John Bosco's life is dominated by the lethal concoction of alcohol and loneliness. Living alone, with only his aunt to look in on him from time to time, John's life of regret stems back to the fact that he has never married. In fact, he has never even lost his virginity. His lack of action, so to speak, is a combination of a number of factors.

Not exactly blessed with matinee idol looks, John Bosco is, or so he tells us, the nearly man of the carnal realm. In his youth, his chances of success with the opposite sex were ruined by over enthusiasm one minute, inertia the next. Either way, the result was always the same - red card. Of course, this being the rural Ireland of yesteryear, Catholic guilt also played a huge part. Deluged by the spleen venting and scaremongering of the clergy, John Bosco, like many men of his generation, exists in a sexual torture chamber - his curiosity and desires stunted by fear and ignorance. Put simply, he is sexually retarded, and represents the sorry sight of a virile teenager trapped in the body of an ageing farmer.

It is against this background that the action of 'The Chastitute' takes place. McLaine has now given up hope of ever "raising the flag", and seems content to see out his days in an alcoholic abyss. His aunt, however, has other ideas for him. Having been the subject of a recent marriage proposal herself, she realises that it's never too late to find a partner, and she enlists the help of the local matchmaker, Micky Molly, to find a suitable bride for John Bosco. Realising that the process will be difficult, Molly counsels JB to hang around with local lothario, Sylvester Brady. The latter is a caricatured version of a smooth operator - rural Ireland-style - getting by with his gift of the gab, schoolboy charm and a notable lack of moral standards.

The rest of the play sees John Bosco being taken for a ride in every way, other than the one he wants. Brady gets him to fund numerous nights out, persuades him to part with £5,000 for a share in a 'business venture', and eventually legs it out of the country with John's house-keeper, Eva. The circular nature of the piece is completed with John Bosco back where he started - destined to live out the rest of his days in the throes of booze, doomed to remain forever a chastitute.

This is ostensibly a comedy, but as with all of Keane's plays, and with Irish drama in general, there is a darker ethic at work. Sexual repression, fear wrought by religious domination, the inherent darkness of Irish rural life, it's all here. But the lightness of touch with which the play is presented conceals the murkier milieu. Terry Byrne's production airbrushes the darker bits and seems intent on presenting the play as a bone fide comedy. It's only afterwards when the laughs have worn off that you consider the emptiness at the heart of the play. But perhaps this is a good thing, a ruse to let us savour the situational comedy and temporarily forget the darker dynamic.

Mick Lally's performance as McLaine, while good, is not much of a stretch for an actor who portrayed Miley Byrne in the long-running Glenroe soap. But nobody can do blank, innocent stares as effectively as Lally, and there is ample room for such gormless gawking here. Elsewhere, John Olohan is suitably unctuous as Sylvie Brady, Mary McEvoy has little to do as Eva Kishock, while Derry Power puts in a scene-stealing performance as Micky Molly. 'The Chastitute' is not one of Keane's best works, but as a reminder of the great man's grasp of what will grip audiences, it works a treat.

Tom Grealis