THE centenary of John Millington Synge’s death has proved a welcome stimulus to south Limerick theatre, with a new four-stop tour of his works in the offing. Friars Gate’s director Caoimhe Reidy put a call through to Ballyhoura Development Ltd and roped in Call Back Theatre Company and producer/ director/ actor Joan Sheehy to launch a production of two plays with local actors.
With all rooted in this country community, grist to Synge’s wise and comical truths, the September stage dates are a generous Friday 11 to 27. Why JM Synge in September 2009 on a Golden Vale circuit?
“There are several reasons why we came up with this staging of In the Shadow of the Glen and The Tinker’s Wedding,” Joan Sheehy begins. “One, of course, is that Synge is such a fantastic playwright. Works such as In the Shadow of the Glen were written over 100 years ago but have a huge resonance for people living in rural places today. We decided to have two short play for a bit of depth and of course, it’s the centenary of his death”.
Sheehy, who made complex roles such as Friel’s Grace in Faith healer her own, broadened her game into directing and producing. Four years ago she took on the creation of a stage work based on Synge’s women parts for a Newfoundland celebration of the playwright and has done other one-woman shows. More recently she is directing comedy with formidable aplomb, for all the suggestion of soft blonde ethereality that wreaths around her. Sheehy is crack shot at laughs: her award-winning Buck Jones and the Body Snatchers surfaces this year for Dublin Theatre Festival in October, an expensive inclusion.
“A comedy director? I wouldn’t consider myself a specialist in it. I find that comedy is funny when you play it with great seriousness and intensity. I really enjoy teasing out with the actors and the script how and where the fun is”.
Joan Sheehy’s interpretation of these plays is no ditch to the cast of Mandy Donworth, Cora Fenton, Katie Holly, Patrick Kelly, Joe Mullins and Robert Lee.
“Most people talk about Synge and the language, complex and lyrical, but these actors have no problem…maybe it’s the rhythm and richness of local voices here”.
The audience should be fixated by more than lilting cadence and laughter. Synge’s attention to themes of ageing, anxiety and loss of status in a changing world is as pertinent ever. Plus change for the vulnerable lot that humanity is, we can go crack a smile, rueful or hilarious, in one of four stops selected by these Ballyhoura/ Call Back Theatre/ Friar’s Gate dark frolics:
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 and Wednesday 16 to Friday 18, 8pm at Friar’s Gate, Kilmallock
Saturday 19 and Sunday 22, 8pm at Manister Community Centre
Thursday 24 and Friday 25, 8pm at Kilbehenny Community Centre
Saturday 26 and Sunday 27, 8pm, Caherconlish Millennium Centre.
(l-r) Katie Holly, Patrick Kelly and Mandy Donworth show out for The Tinker’s Wedding in a collaborative production touring County Limerick.
