Guthrie Theater

OnStage: a leap of ‘Faith'
by Graydon Royce
Star Tribune (October 18, 2009)

Finances have gotten so tight at the Guthrie that Joe Dowling has had to cast himself as an actor.

"Yes, soon we'll do all one-man shows and I will run back and forth to every theater," Dowling said, playing along with the gag during an interview. In a more serious vein, he said he wants Twin Cities actors to know he has no intention of taking work away from them. He's particularly sensitive because the Guthrie is hiring fewer actors in this down-budget year.

Dowling takes the stage this week in Brian Friel's "Faith Healer," one of the Irish master's finest plays. The Guthrie director is one of three actors -- with Raye Birk and Sally Wingert -- who deliver lyrical monologues centering around Frank Hardy, an itinerant preacher who has wandered across the British Isles with a healing ministry. Dowling plays Hardy.

"I'm not planning to make it a once-a-season event," he said. "This relates to my own history with Brian Friel."

On the event of Friel's 80th birthday last year, Irish radio and television asked Dowling to talk about the playwright's legacy. "Faith Healer" had been one of Dowling's signature productions in the early 1980s, with Irish actor Donal McCann playing the Hardy role. Dowling lived with McCann's intense portrayal ringing in his head for such a long time that he could not imagine another actor in the role. When McCann died 10 years ago, Dowling said, "I thought I would never look at 'Faith Healer' again." That included a 2006 Broadway revival with Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones and Ian McDiarmid.

Continue reading the Star Tribune feature story: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/onstage/64455397.html

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