Given the action detailed in the titular protagonist’s story, Conor McPherson’s The Good Thief would seem suited more for the screen than the stage.

Think: an Irish gangster thriller.

Instead, the play — recently revived by Two River Theater, not on their main stage, starring mensch-of-an-actor Christopher Fitzgerald, paging Irish Rep — is a one-man monologue in which we merely hear about his adventurous exploits.

Why?

At first, an Irish barfly regaling us about his inglorious days could raise suspicion as to the veracity of his tale. Unreliable words without validating visuals widens the possibility that he’s fabulating, a national pastime for Emerald Islanders.

Ultimately, the solo dramaturgy adopts existential dimensions. 

The events lasted a fleeting few, but his replaying of them consumes the rest of his life. The entire play is set at a watering hole in his mind, and we represent his illusory audience that his story has deterred him from finding in his IRLand.