PAYDAY Productions, behind Lunchtime Theatre at Savoy Hotel monthly, clinched their first year anniversary by announcing a move to evening theatre. Previously, a 6pm slot (TeaTime Theatre) for the 1pm show had been introduced for the overspill of fans pursuing this keen suite of professional, compact plays in this intimate hotel platform.
The new Evening Theatre event will be other:
“Now we are launching evening theatre on Friday May 31 and on Saturday June 1 at 8pm,” confirms Meave McGrath of Payback. “We will stage the Irish premier of Helena Enright’s play ‘Under Pressure’ which was presented in a rehearsed reading last September in Belltable’s series of Sundays to pioneer new works.
“This time, Aidan Crowe replaces Pius McGrath, Zeb Moore and Chris Rowley are back, Helena directs again and I am producer – organising rehearsal space, the actors, advertising”.
McGrath, with Sidhe Theatre and Viva Voce for this work, explains that Helena Enright writes only in theatre of testimony, interviewing people on what has happened to them, gathering different perspectives and using only their exact words to create a drama rooted in fact.
Arts page has seen fine work out of this freelance theatre practitioner’s stable: Island Theatre Company staged ‘Less Than a Year’ in Georgian House when Alice Kennelly was chief; at Belltable, Amalgamotion produced ‘Walking Away’, comprised of stories and scenarios culled from domestic abuse sufferers.
Savoy Hotel will house ‘Under Pressure’. It’s a play created by Enright in conjunction with Devon Road Safety Unit, based on interviews with survivors or family of those killed on the road.
“We are taking the lunch tables and cabaret style seating for the 1pm show ‘Bandit’ out for Friday 31, June 1 and will be able to seat 100 theatre style,” Meave McGrath reports. “Payback Productions [with Colm O’Brien and Pius McGrath] have had a lot of enquiries from shows and performances who want a smaller venue and now we can utilise the Lunchtime Theatre set up for such works”.
More next week on ‘Bandit’, the 1pm show on Thursday 30, Friday 31 that wowed us last October.
