First Class Performance By Drama Circle

Those who saw “Arms and the Man” as presented by Sligo Drama Circle in the current production at the Town Hall will agree with me when I state that Shaw’s famous comedy has improved with age and it is just as popular and pertinent today as when it was first staged in 1894. In this, their second offering of Summer Season Seventy Three, the Drama Circle maintains its current peak with this delightfully light-footed, comical production by Joe Meehan. After a slightly uncertain opening (I saw it on its first night) the company settled down to give a first rate rendering of this excellent play. As had been promised, the costumes were most colourful and the setting and lighting up to a standard we now automatically demand from this group.

As “Raina”, Eily Kilgannon gave a performance to equal anything we have seen from this fine actress in the past. At the coffee break a lady told me she had seen Eily as “Candida” in he Shaw play of that name last season and had driven fifty miles to see the Circle play Shaw again. As the mother, “Catherine Petkoff”, Denise Ryan proved to be another “discovery” for the Drama Circle. I have already commented on the performance by a newcomer, Margaret Monaghan, in “The Country Boy” and I am reliably informed that yet another star in the making is emerging in the person of Pam Donaghy in rehearsals of “Step-in-the-Hollow”, so that it looks as if the established actresses are in for some stiff competition in the future. Maureen Gallagher played “Louka”, the tempestuous Bulgarian servant, with just the right amount of verve and intensity, while Bernard O’ Grady was a believable Russian officer.

Joe Meehan was a nice contrast to “Louka” as her fellow servant, “Nicola”. As “Major Sergius Saranoff”, Michael Conlon gave promise of excellence to come when he fully settles into the role. As it was, he grew in stature and authority as the night went on. And what a splendid actor Walter Mc Donagh is. He simply revelled in the part of Major Petkoff, and the audience revelled with him. David Johnston has given us many good performances in the past. One thinks of “Bernard” in “Death of a Salesman” and, more especially, the young boy from “Lovers”, but his performance as “The Chocolate Soldier” is the best thing he has ever given us. His portrayal of the Swiss mercenary was masterly and his final scene was a triumph. This was a superlative performance from a brilliant young actor. “Arms and the Man” continues on Thursday 26th July and closes on Thursday August 2nd.

from The Sligo Champion, July 27th, 1973