Synopsis of Plays

Saturday 2nd March 2024 (Open)
Corn Mill Theatre Group present ‘According to Rumour” by Robert Scott

Carter can’t remember exactly what happened last night, but the naked woman emerging from the bedroom is the last person he wants his Mum to find in his flat. And there’s the puzzling matter of the bag of money in his fridge. And he is not sure that his best friend Roger, sister Emma, sister’s fiancé Logan, the maids or the postman will be of any help solving the problem.

Sunday 3rd March 2024 (Open)
Dalkey Players present ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller

The Crucible tells the story of one man’s fight to save his identity in a repressive Puritan community where intolerance collides with lust and superstition, fuelling widespread hysteria with tragic results. Written more than 60 years ago, The Crucible speaks to our modern times so clearly. Every day we are witness to the horrors of terror and persecution and Miller’s play is both profoundly chilling and also deeply hopeful.

Monday 4th March 2024 (Confined) 
Pomeroy Players present ‘There Came A Gypsy Riding’ by Frank McGuinness

The McKenna family convenes at their remote West Ireland holiday home to mark the 21st birthday of their late son Gene. Eccentric cousin Bridget appears along the causeway, inviting herself for birthday cake and conversation, and ready to expose a family secret.

Tuesday 5th March 2024 (Confined) 
Phoenix Players present ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell. Adapted by Ian Woolridge

George Orwell’s satire on the perils of Stalinism has proved magnificently long-lived as a parable about totalitarianism anywhere and has given the world at least one immortal phrase: “Some are more equal than others.” The animals on a farm drive out their master and take over and run the farm for themselves. The experiment is successful, except that someone has to take the deposed farmer’s place. Leadership devolves upon the pigs, which are cleverer than the rest of the animals. Unfortunately, their character is not equal to their intelligence. This dramatization remains faithful to the book’s plot and intent and retains both its affection for the animals and the incisiveness of its message.

Wednesday 6th March 2024 (Confined)
Enniskillen Theatre Company present ‘The Lonesome West’ by Martin McDonagh

The Lonesome West is a story about two brothers, Valene and Coleman, living alone in their father’s house after his recent death. They find it impossible to exist without massive and violent disputes over the most mundane and innocent of topics. Only Father Welsh, the local priest, is prepared to try to reconcile the two before their petty squabblings spiral into vicious and bloody carnage. Martin McDonagh’s black comic portrayal of modern, rural Ireland will have you laughing and horrified in equal measures!

Thursday 7th March 2024 (Open)
Clontarf Players present ‘Radium Girls’ by D.W. Gregory

In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage – until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumours could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not just with the U.S. Radium Corporation, but with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire. Written with warmth and humour, Radium Girls is a fast moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece for 9 to 10 actors, who play more than 30 parts—friends, co-workers, lovers, relatives, attorneys, scientists, consumer advocates, and myriad interested bystanders. Called a ‘powerful and engrossing’ drama by critics, Radium Girls offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science. Radium Girls is making is its debut on the Irish stage with Clontarf Players.

Friday 8th March 2024 (Open)
Wexford Drama Group present ‘How I Learned To Drive’ by Paula Vogel

1969, Maryland, USA. Lil’ Bit is a precocious 17-year-old frustrated with small-town life, her juvenile friends and her overbearing family. The only person who really appreciates her is her Uncle Peck. Told through a series of driving lessons throughout her adolescence, How I Learned to Drive explores the troubled relationship between a young girl and an older man with chaotic theatricality, hilarity, and heartbreak. This shattering and provocative love story delves into the darker realms of sexuality and family life. How I Learned to Drive won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. It premiered off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in March 1997, starring Mary Louise Parker as Lil’ Bit, with David Morse as Uncle Peck.

Saturday 9th March 2024 (Open)
Ballycogley Players present ‘Out Of Order’ by Ray Cooney

The plot revolves around Richard Willey, a Government Junior Minister, who plans to spend the evening with Jane Worthington, one of the Opposition’s secretaries. Unfortunately, things go disastrously wrong, beginning with the discovery of a ‘body’ trapped in the hotels only unreliable sash window. Desperately trying to get out of an extremely sticky situation, Richard calls his PPS, George Pigden who, through Richards’s lies sinks further and further into trouble with everybody and ends up going through an identity crisis. Things go from bad to worst with the arrival of Ronnie, Jane’s distraught young husband and with the addition of an unscrupulous waiter, Mrs Pamela Willey and Nurse Gladys Foster things really come to a head!

Sunday 10th March 2024 (Confined)
Glenamaddy Players present ‘The Outgoing Tide’ by Bruce Graham

In a summer cottage on the banks of Chesapeake Bay, Gunner has hatched as unorthodox plan to secure his family’s future, but meets with resistance from his wife and son, who have plans of their own. This new drama hums with dark humour and powerful emotion. As winter approaches, the three must quickly find common ground and come to an understanding-before the tide goes out.