A READING of ‘In The Shadow of the Cathedral — A Tribute To Elizabeth Luling Dooley’, a new play by Mike O’Halloran, will take place in Cúl Street (Curbys Bar) Ardfert on Wednesday, March 13 at 7.30pm.
Everybody is welcome to attend this reading, especially actors who may wish to take a part in the production proposed for the autumn.
No experience is necessary, in fact, Mike welcomes people who wish to act for the first time. The production will also require musicians, singers, jugglers, dancers or what ever talent you wish to perform.
They need actors male and female aged 30 to 50 years old and two boys aged 13 to 15. If you are interested in being part of the play as an actor or helper or just want to hear the play being read, please come along at 7.30pm on Wednesday March 13th.
.Róisín Reidy and Amy Naughton looking forward to performing in ‘Positive Dead People’ in Madden’s next month. Photo by Dermot Crean
THIS July sees local drama group, Hy-Breasal Players, perform for three nights in Madden’s Coffeehouse.
Taking place on July 6th, 7th and 8th, at 8pm each night, the evenings kick off with two of Frank Houlihan’s Strong Coffee plays: ‘Communion’ and ‘Conception’.
These played to popular acclaim in the Ballymac Bar last October and at Féile Bealtaine Dingle, this May.
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‘Communion’ and ‘Conception’ are two comedies and feature Kay Dowling, Gillian Wharton, Eleanor Sugrue, Mags Slattery and Gloria Keane.
Following on is Pauline Shanahan’s poignant comedy ‘Positive Dead People’. Roisín Reidy plays Monica and Amy Naughton, Milly.
Roisín and Amy are fresh from their successful portrayal of Gwendolen and Cecily in Mercy Mounthawk’s production of Oscar Wilde’s, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in Siamsa Tire.
Admission on the evening is €12 and booking is advised as places are limited. Bookings can be made by texting 0879415523.
Madden’s Coffeehouse is pleased to announce that it has a wine licence, and wines of quality can also be enjoyed on the night.
LISTOWEL-based theatre-maker Richard Walsh has developed a play based on the local history of 18th century North Kerry and it will livestream to various nursing and care home settings in North Kerry and Limerick on Monday, December 14.
The project is supported by Kerry County Council, Creative Ireland, St. John’s Theatre Listowel and Áras Mhuire Nursing Home Listowel.
The adapted theatrical performance will stream the talk show style performance directly to nursing home residents.
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The project aims to bring the performance to older people and those in supported living and care during the COVID19 lockdown in December 2020.
It partners with Kilcara, Lystoll, Riverside, St. Louise, Beechwood, St. Catherine’s, Killeline and Áras Mhuire nursing homes. All HSE and government health guidelines and COVID19 regulations are following by the theatre company in the delivery of this live-streamed theatre event.
‘Lixnaw 1752’ is a play set in Lyreacrompane and Lixnaw during the 18th Century when the bogs of Lyreacrompane were first being turned into farmland.
It follows the story of a family who move from Lixnaw (which at that time was considered one of the finest towns in Ireland or Britain) to Lyrecrompane to claim a small farm for themselves. There they encounter people living a different form of life, similar to life in Ireland before the introduction of capitalism.
This project is about the development of farming in Kerry, the creation of ‘butter roads’ to Cork, the Whiteboy movement, Faction Fighting, and the connection between Ireland and the European armies of France, Austria and Spain.
.‘The Rise And Rise Of The Healy Raes’ tours Kerry over the next couple of months. Photo: Valerie O’Sullivan
A PLAY centring on the story of the Healy Raes is embarking on a world tour of Kerry in the coming weeks.
Written by Killarney-based storyteller and actor Ray O’Sullivan, ‘The Rise and Rise of the Healy-Raes’ is the hilarious and sometimes poignant story of batchelor brothers Densey and PJ Doona who appear time-locked in a life of loneliness and celibacy in their small family farm in Kerry.
But foreign women, love, elections and politics combine to change their lives, with the well-oiled Healy-Rae machine at the centre of the miraculous transformation.
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The play’s ‘world tour’ of Kerry runs for six nights at six different venues across Kerry, opening at Beaufort Community Centre on March 11th and finishing at St John’s Theatre in Listowel on April 20th.
It’s the first time the remarkable story of Healy-Rae politics has been crafted into a dramatic production for stage.
Written by Ray O’Sullivan, it’s the Cork native’s first full-length play. O’Sullivan, who also stars the play, is no stranger to the stage and has earned a reputation as an original and talented storyteller, seanchaí and actor.
The play is directed by Aidan O’Connor, journalist and writer/director of the hit drama ‘Patrick’ which had a phenomenal run in Kerry last year.
“The story of the Healy-Raes is one which has been told in many ways over the years, but this is the first time it’s being played out on stage. In many ways, it was a drama waiting to unfold,” Ray O’Sullivan said.
Director Aidan O’Connor said; “Ray O’Sullivan has shown tremendous bravery in tackling such a well-known yet gigantic movement as the Healy-Raes. What he has done is pen a very funny and moving piece of work that Kerry audiences will thoroughly enjoy.”
The play comes to the following venues (Tickets available at the door or by calling 087 2279657)….
• Beaufort Community Centre: Saturday, March 11th, 8pm
• Castleisland Ivy Leaf: Saturday, March 25th, 8pm
• Kenmare Carnegie Centre: Saturday, April 1st
• Scartaglen Heritage Centre: Saturday, April 8th, 8pm
• Killarney INEC Acoustic Club: Thursday, April 13th, 8pm
• Listowel, St John’s Theatre, Thursday, April 20th, 8pm
.An image from the poster for ‘A Wake In The West’ to be staged by CBS The Green Transition Year students.
CBS The Green Transition Year students are preparing to stage a play open to the public for one night only early next month.
Having successfully staged their interpretation of John B Keane’s ‘The Field’ last year – of which Billy Keane opined “Ye brought John B. Keane back to life. An honour to my father’s memory in the best way possible” – the boys are totread the boards again in ‘A Wake In The West’.
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Written by Michael J Kennelly, the comedy is set during the wake of Tom Healy who drank himself to his eternal rest and now appears to have wished his grave to be a watery one by requesting cremation and the scattering of his ashes at sea.
The comedy begins when a neighbour decides that Tom is not entitled to take it all with him. It is a comedy of physical and verbal theatre that is sure to bring a must needed smile to everyone’s face.
The production will take place early May for the school community, but the school is delighted to open the production for an exclusive public show for one night only on May 5.
Doors open at 7pm and show will begin 7.30pm sharp. Tickets are available at the school reception or ring the school at 0667145824 to reserve your tickets.
KERRY playwright and actor Michael Hilliard Mulcahy is taking his one man play ‘After Sarah Miles’ on the road later this month.
The Castlegregory man hopes to perform the play in communities and villages all over Kerry and beyond throughout the Spring and Summer of 2016.
‘After Sarah Miles’ chronicles 35 years in the life of ‘Bobeen’, a Dingle fisherman whose first job (as a fourteen year old) is on the set of Ryan’s Daughter, where Robert Mitchum buys him his very first drink and Sarah Miles is the subject of his first serious crush.
Bobeen is still longing for the American dream long after the film crew pull out of town. However, life becomes a bit of rollercoaster until one fateful evening when a bottlenose dolphin guides his boat into Dingle Bay….
The play was first performed by actor Don Wycherley to rave reviews. Emer O’Kelly of the Sunday Independent called it ‘a lilting wonder of exquisite exploration.’
Actress Juliet Mills (daughter of Sir John Mills who won an Oscar for his part on ‘Ryan’s Daughter’) hailed it as a wonderful play and performance.
Hollywood producer/screenwriter Bob Bibb was also taken by the play after seeing it in Hilliard Mulcahy’s native Camp village last summer. He has now begun work on a film script of the play.
Mulcahy’s previous work was the hugely successful ‘Beyond the Brooklyn Sky’ which was a big hit at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2012. He has completed a third play ‘Symphony to the Sea’ which he hopes to have produced in 2017. He has also started work on a new play and a short film script.
‘After Sarah Miles’ kicks off the season in The Chapel On The Hill in Killorglin on Wednesday April 27th at 8pm, The Old School House at Muckross farm village in Killarney on Thursday April 28th at 8pm and in An Diseart, Dingle (as part of Féile na Bealtaine) on Friday, April 29 at the earlier time of 7pm.
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For further info or if interested in booking the show this summer, please contact Mick on 086 8726609 or at actonemick@gmail.com
.Barbara Dempsey as Countess Markievicz in the play.
HOT on the heels of its success in Dublin, the play, ‘Madame de Markievicz On Trial’, written by Ann Matthews and directed by Anthony Fox, will come to Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, on Saturday, April 16.
However, if you’re in Listowel next weekend, the play will be on in St John’s Theatre, Listowel on Friday, March 18.
Most people know the centenary of the 1916 Rebellion is being commemorated with events taking place all over the country. Most are familiar with the main characters such as Pearse and Connolly. Indeed, Kerry people travelling in and out of Heuston Station may have even spotted the bust of Sean Heuston, one of those who were executed after the Rising, but when it comes to the women who took part in the Rebellion, Madame Markievicz is the most well-known.
Actors Neil Fleming and Ian Mehan in a scene from the play.
A play never claims to be an accurate account of an historical event. A play, like a good teacher, makes one think about people, things and events, and certainly ‘Madame de Markievicz On Trial’ gives the audience an opportunity simply to ask themselves, who exactly is this Countess Markievicz?
The Countess was tried by court martial in the aftermath of the Rebellion but this drama is set in a criminal court and is a fictional calling to the account of the Countess for the death of police constable Michael Lahiff on Easter Monday, 1916.
It is led by a great team and cast under the guidance of The New Theatre. For more information, checkout their website. www.thenewtheatre.com.
The cast in character during rehearsals – Rory O’Mahony, Shona Murphy, David Hobbert, Mike O’Halloran and Geraldine Parker – for ‘A Queen’s Speech’ at Parker’s Bar, Kilflynn.
THE Union Jack will grace Siamsa Tire as the new play from the writer of the acclaimed ‘September 82’ will be performed later this month.
‘A Queen’s Speech’, by Mike O’Halloran, will be performed on Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28 at 8pm.
It’s a blend of comedy and drama set in the summer of 2011 when Ireland was lifted from the gloom of recession by the promise of a State visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
The action takes places in a pub which also houses a small barbershop run by Jimmy, a vulnerable soul who really gets into the spirit of the occasion.
Jimmy’s excitement is shared by two kind women, who help him through life, indulging his idiosyncrasies and encouraging his dreams.
But his idyllic life is threatened by the business aspirations of the conniving pub owner Declan. Will an innocent triumph over a shady dealer?
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Mike O’Halloran, Rory O’Mahony and Geraldine Parker in rehearsals for ‘A Queen’s Speech’ at Parker’s Bar, Kilflynn.
Mike O’Halloran has enjoyed success with his previous play, September ’82, a story about Kerry Football fans, which delighted audiences around the country.
Originally from Ballyduff, he has been involved in drama for many years appearing with groups including The Group Theatre Tralee, Pheonix Production’s, Zyber Theatre.
His interest in theatre takes him to London several times a year to view the latest drama in The National Theatre or other venues like Donmar Theatre.
Many people know O’Halloran from his other passion, sport. In addition to training teams around the county, O’Halloran is also a regular contributor to Radio Kerry sports programming and TraleeToday.ie.
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Shona Murphy, Geraldine Parker and Rory O’Mahony in rehearsals for ‘A Queen’s Speech’ at Parker’s Bar, Kilflynn.
This new offering moves away from the sporting theme, but stays in the world of the small town pub. It’s an offbeat comedy with plenty of twists in the tale, which is sure to find many fans.
Directed by O’Halloran himself, assisted by Seamus McDonnell, the play features a community cast of veteran performers and new talent.
Geraldine Parker is a new addition to The Group Theatre Tralee but she is no stranger to the boards with Kilflynn Drama Group.
She has starred in Widows Paradise and Too Close To Home, she should be at home in her role as Mary.
Shona Murphy from Listry joins the group for the first timeShona is a member of The Killorglin Pantomime Group and Listry Folk Group, she is a keen rugby player and promises that this play will be the first of many.
Rory O’Mahony, a member of the Zyber Theatre, has vast experience on the stage both as an actor and director.
Rory has toured with Zyber with John Fraher’s Barn Dance and The Evidence I Shall Give. He has also stage managed for The Group Theatre in the past.
David Hobbert is a long serving member of TGTT, he has played many roles over the years, his favourite role being Nostradamus in September 82. He loves the part of Jockey in this production.
For more information see The Group Theatre Tralee Facebook Page
HUNDREDS turned up in the summer sunshine at Ballyseede Castle Hotel on Wednesday, for an open-air theatre performance of a literary classic.
The Chapterhouse Theatre Company returned to the grounds to perform ‘Wuthering Heights’ and tickets were sold out before Wednesday, showing the popularity of the event.
Adapted from Emily Brontë’s novel by Laura Turner, the company presented the classic love story set on the beautiful, mysterious wilderness of the Yorkshire moors.
The story of enduring love and passion thrilled and entranced the audience – many of whom enjoyed a picnic on the tables provided in the stunning setting of the Castle – and the weather held to make it a great evening for all.
This isn’t the first time Chapterhouse has come to the Castle and last year’s performance of Jane Austen’s Sense And Sensibility was a also a great success. They’re will be many more to come I’m sure.
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At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: David Woulfe, Mary Lawlor, Saoirse Woulfe, Katie Woulfe and Conor Woulfe. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Enjoying the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Tim Pullman Daamne and Sean Pullman Daamne. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Breda Clifford and Kay Allen. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Rachel Gallagher, Evelyn Murphy and Rosaleen Shannon. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Attending the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Rose Palmer and Gretta Geaney. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Enjoying the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Rebecca Harrington, Grainne Hayes, Ruth Horgan and Bernadette Earley. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Treasa Walsh, Marian Moore and Miriam Deregeibus. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Enjoying the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Muireann Rooney and Kate Dillon. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.The scene at Ballyseede Castle before the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Laura Carroll and Kevin McCarthy. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.Enjoying the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were Sheila and Deirdre Cremins. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Catherine Daly, Breda Casey and Joan Downes. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Sarah Scully, Teresa Scully and Marian Collins. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Caroline O’Connor, Marie O’Connell, Mary Hopkins and Catherine O’Neill. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Maura Landers, Nicole Horgan and Sarah Harnett. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Martina Murphy, Bebhinn Ryan and Nicola Collins. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Denis Keane, Maggie Prenderville, Delia O’Donoghue and Richard O’Toole. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Kay O’Connell, Marie Brosnan, Grace O’Connor. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Deirdre Murphy and Catriona O’Mahony. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Geraldine Cantillon and Pauline Gaffney. Photo by Gavin O’ConnorAttending the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Gerardine, Karen Lynch and Catherine Tobin. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the performance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ at Ballyseede Castle were, from left: Noreen Quirke, Mary Field and Mary Dreelan. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
