WHEN actor Michael Hilliard Mulcahy wrote the play ‘Beyond the Brooklyn Sky’, he met rejection everywhere. Hawking it to The Gate, Druid, The Abbey proved fruitless.
He turned then to director/ producer/ writer Peter Sheridan (last seen in Limerick with his musical inspired by George Best) for feedback on the text.
Sheridan’s opinion on ‘Beyond the Brooklyn Sky’ was resounding: “This was easily the best piece of new writing that I had ever seen. I met with Michael, we got on really well and developed a relationship” that regretfully, went on to see two applications for Special Project funding from Arts Council rejected.
On then to collaborate with Red Kettle Theatre’s Ben Hennessy, who has created a wonderful set for ‘Beyond the Brooklyn Sky’ – and yes, finally, funding came through.
“We had a short run of a week at Dublin Theatre Festival and another in Waterford where Red Kettle is based and we got some fantastic reviews. The general belief was that this play should tour, it so needs to be seen in the west coast of Ireland”.
Monies from The Arts Council were granted quickly in this instance and so the winning production arrives at Lime Tree Theatre for Friday November 1 and Saturday 2, 8pm.
Sheridan summarises the play at two levels: the back story of a group of people from Brandon in Kerry who emigrate to America in the late 1980s.
“Unresolved stuff happened and 20 years later they are back in Kerry for a gathering and.. all hell breaks loose”.
He then invokes “the two great aspects of Irish life, the row and the love story.. and this is a phenomenal love story of two people, now in the 40s who should have been a couple when they went to the States. Now they get a second chance”
Action is over a 48hour period “so it’s intense,. This is a beautiful, warm, believable affecting play” that has moved people to stand and cheer at the end. Peter Sheridan loves that the work is modern, contemporary, a world from the hackneyed, that the characters are interested in music, as passionate about it as he is, that their mindset and experiences are of a generation with which he identifies.
‘Beyond the Brooklyn Sky’ will have a resonance for decades to come, he feels: “I guarantee you that this will be considered one of the great plays 20 years from now”.
Book your seat at www.limetreetheatre.ie, November 1 and 2.
