Myra Caellaigh (Florence Scagliarini), Kate O’Sullivan (Phoebe Mar Halkowich), and Siobhan Murchadha (Irina Kaplan) tend to the deceased in The Wake of Dorcas Kelly (photo by Nick Thomas)

THE WAKE OF DORCAS KELLY
The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal St.
Thursday-Sunday through July 25, $42
www.spitnvigor.com

New York–based nonprofit theater company spit&vigor continues its exploration of the past in The Wake of Dorcas Kelly, which opened July 16 at the Players Theatre and continues through July 25.

Inspired by a true story that has expanded its legend with apocryphal elements over time, the ninety-minute show takes place in the Maiden Tower brothel in Dublin in January 1761, where the hanged and charred body of former madam Dorcas Kelly lies covered on a table. Ladies of the evening Siobhan Murchadha (Irina Kaplan), Kate O’Sullivan (Phoebe Mar Halkowich), and Myra Caellaigh (set and sound designer Florence Scagliarini) are watching over their dear departed friend and former boss, who was brutally executed for the murder of a shoemaker in the street. “She didn’t shoot just any man,” pub owner and regular Maiden customer Tom Doherty (Nicholas Thomas) explains. “It was the scoundrel John Dowling, who left our poor Kate with child and no support. Which is a thing I’d never do, for all my vices.”

As they share memories of Dorcas, a riot is under way right outside, the noise spilling into the room. Former sailor William O’Brien (Eamon Murphy) has been hired by Kate to protect the brothel during the public melee, but he keeps coming in for more drink while insisting he will remain true to his wife, Grace (Duoer Jia). “I suppose he’s burning through some of his debts with hard labor,” Siobhan says. “That boy wouldn’t know hard labor if it spanked him in the arse,” Myra replies. “Well, this hard labor has spanked him in the arse once or twice,” Siobhan jokes.

Soon Tom and William are dragging doped-up Father Jack Dancy (troupe executive producer Adam Belvo) in through the back window. The visiting Belfast priest is completely out of it; the men tie him up so he won’t be able escape before praying for Dorcas. Meanwhile, former prostitute Fannie Prufrock (Kyra Jackson) has gone legit but can’t seem to stay away from the brothel. “Went and run off with some shipmate and now she thinks she’s the queen of England,” Myra says. “Have some tenderness, Myra. She only comes back round here because she’s tired of married life. Imagine getting stuck with the same prick night after night,” Siobhan adds. “You want to be married, then, Myra? I’ll make an honest woman of you,” Tom offers, but Myra is having none of that. When a surprise guest (Peter Oliver) is discovered, the plot takes a dark turn without losing its macabre, ribald sense of humor.

Founded in 2015, spit&vigor excels at mining the history of drama, literature, and art for raw material: Among its previous productions, NEC SPE / NEC METU tells the story of Baroque painters Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Mary’s Little Monster imagines how Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein came to be, The Brutes goes behind the scenes of an 1864 benefit performance of Julius Caesar by the Booth brothers (staged by spit&vigor at the Players club, which was started by Edwin Booth), and the livestreamed Luna Eclipse traveled back to the fourteenth century as the cast proceeded throughout the West Park Presbyterian Church on Eighty-Sixth St.

The Wake of Dorcas Kelly offers plenty of booze, blasphemy, and butchery (photo by Nick Thomas)

Written and directed by company artistic director Sara Fellini (In Vestments, Hazard a Little Death) with plenty of spit and vigor, The Wake of Dorcas Kelly opens with all nine actors onstage, singing a rousing version of “The Tempest” by the Real MacKenzies: “We are all born free but forever live in chains / And we battle through existence on and on / We’ll take whatever comes to be while keeping hopeful melody / And we’ll cruise through the darkness until the warmth of dawn.” The drinking song gets the audience ready for a rollicking evening on Scagliarini’s cramped, dusty, but homey set with unmatched chairs, Baroque wallpaper, a back staircase, and candles, cups, glasses, and bottles everywhere. (The often eerie lighting is by Chelsie McPhilimy, with period costumes and props by Claire Daly.)

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, along with booze, blasphemy, and butchery — what’s not to love? Deserving of a longer engagement, The Wake of Dorcas Kelly is a spirited night out at the theater — live and in person — performed by a strong cast that will only get better as the show continues. It’s so much fun spending time with these well-drawn, engaging characters and talented actors that it’s sad when the play is over and the lights go down; it’s easy to see why everyone likes stopping by and staying for a drink or two, and maybe a little more, even with dead bodies lying around.