Entertainment

Mixed opinion of metaphor-laden show

THE problem with a show made up of five long mono logues by five different au thors is that the offerings are likely to be uneven. The only suspense is how deep the divide between the best and the worst pieces will be.

In other words: How much will we have to suffer to get to the good stuff?

But “Spinning the Times,” part of a citywide Irish theater festival and inspired by news stories, is fairly consistent. The better playlets aren’t so great that they embarrass the lesser ones — which aren’t horrendous.

Anthologies of monologues are often repetitive, too, as one character after another mulls over past significant events. Which is why Rosalind Haslett’s “Gin in a Teacup” stands out: It does step onto memory lane, but to underscore the plight of someone who cannot remember anymore. Mostly, though, the piece sticks to the here and now.

An Iranian immigrant (her real name is Nooshin) who reinvented herself as a vintage-fashion expert in Brooklyn, Romayne (Aysan Celik) waits for her sister in a bar, mulling over their differences.

Perched on a high chair, Celik strikes affected poses that strive for nonchalance. You can’t take your eyes off her, and in a few minutes she creates a rich character with untold potential.

Geraldine Aron’s “Miracle Conway” is more of a self-contained joke. Still, it’s an effective one, as Aron progressively reveals the full battiness of the title character (Rosemary Fine), whose hobby is “improving lyrics.”

The final twist can be seen a mile ahead, but that doesn’t prevent Aron from milking Miracle’s comic potential, as when she dissects “Moon River.”

In “The Luthier,” Ethan Hova plays a young Palestinian, Dawood, who reflects on a tragic episode of his childhood. Lucy Caldwell spins a good yarn — and Hova nicely underplays both the laughs and the pathos — but the parallel between fixing violins and fixing bodies is ultimately facile. Metaphors are to plays as missiles are to people.

The echo between the situations in Ireland and the Middle East also pops up in Rosemary Jenkinson’s “The Lemon Tree,” but once it’s out in the open, the playwright has nowhere to go — just like David (Mark Byrne) in

Belinda McKeon’s “Fugue.”

The young man fled Ireland to escape the IRA, but in New York he loses everything, including his passport, in a fire. Stuck in limbo, David can’t go back, can’t move on.

What was that about metaphors again?

SPINNING THE TIMES

59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St. 212-279-4200. Through Sept. 20.

elisabeth.vincentelli@nypost.com