With the regional premiere of The Weir, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival spends the Halloween season exploring things that go bump in the Irish night, and how a little bumping can unleash an emotional deluge.

        It's a dark and stormy night in an ancient little pub in the Irish beyond. The wind howling outside and rain pounding on a corrugated tin roof are courtesy of sound designer David Levy. Scenic designer Todd Edwards cleverly extends the set (and its low roof) to the very edge of the audience, creating a cozy intimacy for the loquacious drama played out in real time.

        It's a special evening at the pub. Jack (Michael Burnham) arrives first and makes himself very much at home, while pub owner Brendan (Brian Isaac Phillips) is out back filling a bucket with fuel for the stove.

        Jack is aghast that married Finbar (Michael Shooner) has been spending the day escorting a pretty young stranger (Amy Hutchins) around town. The couple is due to arrive soon.

        Rounding out the gathering is Jim (Nick Rose), a middle-aged man still living with his mum.

        Undercurrents rise quickly to the surface, thanks to the arrival of the young woman, Valerie, who's bought a place in the area. Finbar, nicely executed by Mr. Shooner, is the smugly self-satisfied self-made man you love to hate, and he riles Jack mightily, especially as the drink rounds mount and tongues loosen.

        Director Jasson Minadakis takes his time letting his actors ease into the action, but Jack finally launches into a story about the local fairy road, beautifully told by Mr. Burnham. The entire cast is well coached by Rocco Dal Vera in Irish dialect and by Mr. Minadakis in the art of listening. Watching the actors listen is one of the great delights as the evening progresses.

        Before long they're all sharing their experiences with the inexplicable, but The Weir is not so much about ghosts and ghoulies as it is about the easily explained things that haunt us, like mistakes we've made along the way.

        Cincinnati Shakespeare has brought in a pair of capable guest actors, Mr. Burnham and Mr. Shooner, for The Weir, but it's the men of their own ensemble who give riveting performances.

        Mr. Phillips inhabits the role of the best kind of intuitive bartender, the one who knows everything about everyone. The character keeps his own counsel, the actor lets the audience read the subtext. It's a marvelously subtle performance.

        Even better is Nick Rose, who broke through to a new level last season as Potso in Waiting for Godot. He has been delivering stunning performances ever since.

        The latest is Jim, of the bad hair and hunched shoulders and good intentions, who's trapped himself in a closed little life where nothing bad — or good — can touch him, except the occasional ghost in a graveyard.

        Amy Hutchins is more or less lost among them until she gets her big solo moment well along in the action and does well enough by it.

        The Weir goes on a little too long for its own good, with the script's dramatic momentum winding down before the play does.

        The Weir, through Nov. 5, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, 381-2273.
       

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