
TORCH Playersโ director Maurice OโSullivan reflects on the works of Neil Simon. โA long time ago I did a full length play by Neil called โThe Gingerbread Ladyโ which weย presented in the Belltable in 2001. We had intended taking it on the festival circuit but festivals were cancelled because of Foot and Mouth diseaseโ (along with much else in a government directed campaign of containment).
โI have always liked his plays, especially when they are not pure comedy.โ
Understood, for Neil Simon is known the world over for arch and tellingย works such as โThe Odd Coupleโ ย and โThe Goodbye Girlโ. And who can lose sight of Robert Redford in โBarefoot in the Parkโ? โSweet Charityโ and โBiloxi Bluesโ remain popular for musical and dramatic revivals. He can do rough with the smooth.
In his lifetime, he won three Tonys in 17 nominations. The focus of Torch light, โLost in Yonkersโ, won the ย 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
From the directorโs chair, Maurice wants people to understand context for Neil Simonโs writing, a story of two brothers sent to live with largely uncharitable relatives.
His own parents had had a chaotic, fractious relationship. At school the young writer was desperately shy. In later years, hear the heart ache in this revealing admission in interview with Lawrence Grobel: โI think part of what made me a comedy writer is the blocking out of some of the really ugly, painful things in my childhood and covering it up with a humorous attitudeย โฆ do something to laugh until I was able to forget what was hurting.โ
Onwards and forwards toย this material and the hard working team that Torch Players are, steered by Maurice OโSullivan.
He makes the point that big parts for ย teenage boys were a delay in staging โLost in Yonkersโ before now. Open auditions, a trawl of schools and a plug in Arts Page drew interest and โwe chose Gary OโHanlon and Adam Stapleton, bothย aged 17. Iโd put a shout out to all the drama schools, Limerick School of Acting, Spotlight Stage School, Expressive Arts and to Maeve McGrath who has a school of acting in the county.โ
Having the emotional maturity as well as stage presence to work with this playโs โmix of comedy and heartbreakโ was essential. โYonkers is in New York state, located above The Bronx and it is still very urban. The story is set in 1942 during World War II and itโs kind of autobiographical in the sense that Neil Simon and his brother were often farmed out to relatives.โ
Within his fiction, the boysโ father is widowed and becomes indebted to loan sharks for $9,000. The boys are Arty, aged 14 and Jay, 15, and their father (Dan Mooney) has to go trawling down Southern states around the railroads for high-earning seasonal work.
Their temporary home from home is bleak.
โThey have a coldhearted, stern ย Granny (Brรญd Hartnett). The family are Jews who escaped from Germany in World War 1 and came to America physically and emotionally damaged from the war ย years. Aunt Bella (Joanne OโBrien) is emotionally and mentally arrested in her growth and sheโs childlike but very loving.
โTheir home is not a pleasant stay for the nine months but this is very much a family drama. Everyone is affected by the grandmother.โ
Uncle Louie (Peter Hayes) is half a mobster; thereโs Gert (Mary Jones) whose trauma is reflected in a speech impediment.
The production team aiding this production is top notch with Pius McGrath on lighting, Gerry Lombard managing stage and Sheenagh Murphy crafting costumes of that austere era, mid-war and post Depression. Booking for March 10 to 14 in Belltableย www.limetreetheatre.ieย – and Torch packs out the joint.