THE PLAYBOYS (1992), 117 minutes

Robin Wright plays Tara Maguire, an unwed mother living in a small village near the border of Northern Ireland in 1957. At turns shamed and courted by her neighbors, Tara rebuffs all comers, including the local constable, played by a brooding Albert Finney. Into Tara’s village comes a ramshackle traveling theater company run by Milo O’Shea and Aidan Quinn, bringing mayhem as well as a breath of life. Against her better judgment, Tara is soon drawn to the roguish Aidan Quinn, stirring the ire of Finney’s constable. Intense and passionate in a Hibernian way, The Playboys captures rural Ireland on the edge of change­­ with even the theatre troupe sensing that their days are numbered with television encroaching on its traditional domain.

BE ADVISED–– This film is rated PG-13, with smoking, drinking, profanity, violence (including suicide), sexuality, nudity, smuggling, and over-the-top “theatre folk.”