The Weir at the Irish Repertory Theatre

After umpteen extensions, it looks like this well and truly might be the final weekend to catch the critically lauded (and lauded and lauded and lauded) production of The Weir at the Irish Repertory Theatre. With hardly a plot to speak of --- five people in an Irish country pub swap spooky tales on a cold and windy night --- the play instead demonstrates the power of plot's other half, a.k.a. story.

The stories begin innocently enough as eerie local legends, but as the characters react and joke you come to see the emotional import of each yarn. Finally Valerie, the mysterious newcomer, delivers a devastating monologue that's both ghostly and true, and the play transforms from an amusing take on local color to a moving testament to the way storytelling ties vulnerable people to one another and keeps out the darkness that surrounds us.