Pink Banana Scores With “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me”

­At the risk of stating the obvious, the heart of a drama is simply about the conflicts between people. Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness is a brilliant example of this. An Englishman, an Irishman and an American are held hostage, chained to the walls of a room with no windows. Adam Gaulke plays an American doctor who has been held hostage the longest. The character's psychological strength is readily apparent in Gaulke's portrayal, especially as we see it slowly disintegrate. Rob Maass crafts a convincing accent as a journalist from Ireland. McGuinness wrote aspects of the three characters to be reluctant cultural stereotypes, and Maass embodies a wild feistiness that serves the Irishman well. Nick Firer balances out the third corner of the stage as the Englishman. Firer has shown great talent for comedy in the past, but here he shows profound insight for serious, heart-wrenching tragedy. The Spiral Theatre Company performed an intimate production of this drama a few years ago, but this staging by Pink Banana Theatre is much more polished (through July 18 at the Off-Broadway Theatre).