Two Alices, one long marriage - Review of “I heart Alice heart I” at the Irish Arts Center

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The other Alice had been her true love all along, she says, but for years she had lacked the courage to admit it to herself, or to ever tell the object of her affection.

It goes badly for you when you find you can’t or won’t say what you really feel in matters of the heart. So it proved for the stay at home married Alice.

The other more free-spirited Alice moved to London and enjoyed multiple affairs, but she slowly discovered that bed hopping and booze aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

When her mother got sick free-spirited Alice returned to Ireland, she tells us, and she rekindled her friendship with the woman she left behind. The story of their awkward courtship is worth the ticket price alone.

It involves confronting years of Irish sexual repression, a barely touched homemade dinner and a bottle of the undrinkable Blue Nun wine for Dutch courage. It also involves peals of laughter and stories of staying in bed for three days.

As romantic how-we-became-involved tales go, this one – as performed by Conroy and her pitch perfect stage partner Clare Barrett – wins a gold star.

Alice and Alice look like any Irish housewives of their age and background (the wigs and makeup that transform the two much younger actors playing the roles are outstanding). They know they’re not poster women for the gay rights movement.

But having lived together for decades on their own terms and through the best and worst of times, their long and very happy marriage and the funny and heartfelt play at the Irish Arts Center that has resulted from it remind us what a miracle true love is in a world where there’s so little to be found.

I Heart Alice Heart I is playing at the Irish Arts Center until March 17. For tickets and showtimes visit www.irishartscenter.org.

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Nster.com