The Schoolhouse Theater Scores with a Rom-Com: Outside Mullingar

The Schoolhouse Theater Scores with a Rom-Com: Outside Mullingar

Dare I say that the Schoolhouse Theater is like a box of chocolates, “You never know what you’re going to get.” To open their 2026 season, they chose a romantic comedy— not exactly a staple from this “venerable” equity theater, that in recent seasons has produced weightier stuff like of Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, and Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

That said, Outside Mullingar is a pleasant little rom com that presents the illusion that you are awaiting an Irish tragedy. John Patrick Shanley smartly weaves a dark cloud of despair over this story about a dying father; his 42-year-old unmarried son, Anthony, who is NOT A HOMOSEXUAL; and Rosemary, the farmer’s daughter next door who has just frozen her eggs.

With a seemingly barren generation as his heir, the old man is prepared to sell the farm out from under his son if he can just resolve a land dispute with Rosemary who is still angry with Anthony for pushing her to the ground when she was six years old. Until the punchlines mount, it’s not clear if we’re waiting form Harry and Sally to get together or waiting for Godot. By the time you can clearly see the familiar rom-com path ahead it comes as a catharsis. Outside Mullingar, to be sure, is a fun evening.

Producing director Bram Lewis, who assumed the directorial helm for this one, provided his cast a free and steady hand throughout. Thea McCartan shines as Rosemary in her return to the Schoolhouse Theater; Dana Watkins smartly straddles the drone/heart throb complexity of Anthony; Michael Daly, who provided comic relief in Faith Healer at the Schoolhouse in 2024, commands the stage once again as Anthony’s father; and Carol Monferdini, as Rosemary’s mother reveals all the story line’s dark secrets with grace and good humor.

Outside Mullingar runs for ten more performances through May 31. The Schoolhouse Theater’s season continues in September with Noel Coward’s stylish and sophisticated comedy Private Lives and concludes in December with James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter.