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The Misfits is a novella written by Arthur Miller and was an adapted movie directed by John Huston, starring Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, in 1961. Corn Exchange’s annual Dublin Theatre Festival version was successfully directed by Annie Ryan in the Smock Alley Theatre. Instead of creating an extravagant West American image, Ryan focused more on the power dynamics between characters which was strengthened by choreography and sound design bringing the audience into an ol’ West story. To be ‘misfits’ means that you don’t need to get your wages from anyone else. Yet, you always lose something to achieve your main goal – the American Dream.

The performance reveals the human attitudes and behaviours which are stereotypical and strongly defined by gender. There are three men on stage living under different circumstances, thence portraying very different “masculine attitudes”. Such as: Guido, played by Patrick Ryan, who is a typical good ol’ boy and a war veteran, and Perce, brilliantly played by Emmet Byrne, who has a sort of intense masculine identity. The theme of masculinity is closely intertwined with the concept of the American Dream, in which men want to conquer power, honor- mere appearance. Women are portrayed as beautiful “creatures” whose bodies are there to please and serve– the vague idea of the beautiful bad girl. The superficiality and complexity of characters are constantly in a battlefield (or even better in a rodeo in the desert).

In conclusion, Annie Ryan’s interpretation of The Misfits was somehow intensified with the close focus on the power relationship between different men and women, different social stereotypes of Western American. It left the public with the faculty to associate the values of the old American Dream and its superficialities to our contemporary world, and to wonder why people present themselves in a certain way in order to gain honor, respect and power.