“Stephen D” Comes To Town

Sligo audiences have a treat in store for them in the near future when Joe Burns of B & P Productions fame takes the boards again. Those who have such pleasant memories of the halcyon days of Sligo pantomime will recall with a chuckle Joe’s many hilarious performances as “Carabuncle”. Sad, indeed, that his “other half” of those days is unhappily no longer with us. In his return to the stage Joe has, in theatre parlance, gone “strictly legit” for the role of the father in “Stephen D” which opens a four week run on August 18th as part of Sligo Drama Circle’s Summer Theatre ’74. Many will wish to take a trip down memory lane to see the “old pro” himself in action once more.

“Stephen D” is probably one of the most ambitious plays the Drama Circle has come up with in a long time. Its kaleidoscope nature, covering upwards of thirty years of Joyce’s life, calls for the most imaginative and skilful of stagings and judging by what I saw the other evening at rehearsal, Sligo audiences are in for a feast of switches and surprises. Well-rounded characters, witty dramatic scenes and clever theatrical effects pop on and off the scene like magic. At one time one might be excused for thinking that half the population of Sligo was flitting in and out of the wings – all of which is a tribute to the ingenuity of that dedicated man of the Sligo theatre scene, Lionel Gallagher who is directing. Many will recall with pleasure having seen Lionel’s production of “Step-in-the-Hollow” last season and his sensitive performances as “Francis” in “Men Without Shadows” and “Candy” in “Of Mice and Men”.

In a hard-working team of thirty five it struck me how dedicated these people are and how correctly the director has managed to place the players in their various roles. The cast is headed in the part of “Stephen” by Liam Mc Kinney who has a marathon role “the twentieth century Hamlet of parts” as one of the actors said. Liam is probably better known as a director of Tennessee Williams’ and Arthur Miller’s plays at the drama festivals but in 1973 he had an outstanding success as “Eddie” in “The Country Boy” and proved that acting is not second to directing. Deirdre Gallagher whom we recall for the brilliance of her stage debut as “Blanche DuBois” in “A Streetcar Named Desire” takes on the acid role of Dante while Mick Kilcoyne who has impressed so many in the past two years plays the fanatic Parnellite “Mr. Casey. Robert Burnside whose performance as “Lockett” in “Men Without Shadows” will be remembered, delivers the famous “Hellfire Sermon” with telling effect.

But the list of players in the play is so long it would be impossible to mention them all: Joe Meehan as the amusing Conservative Fr. Dillon; Geoff Rose, Seamus Kennelly, Billy Mulvaney as the boisterous students; Francis Conway as the talkative Cranley; Mary Mc Donagh as the out of their depth sophisticate; Jim Houlihan as the “wet-behind-the-ears” Joyce brother; John Caheny as the unpleasant Jesuit; Maureen Barry as Joyce’s mother; Frankie Brannigan playing Stephen as a youth; Nicholas Gallagher as “Johnny Cashman” and Brian Crummy as Bro. Michael.

More exciting still is the truly beautiful stage settings designed by K. Cordall Crier, a newcomer to the Sligo theatre scene but by no means new to the world of theatre. Mr. Cordall Crier has worked in theatre and television right across Europe and among his most favourite sets are those he designed at the Corsao Club Brussels for Maurice Chevalier and at the Brussels State Opera Company for the Flemish language production of “Hamlet”. His design for “Stephen D” is a masterpiece of simplicity which delightfully enhances the atmosphere of illusion created by the author as the characters flit in and out of his mind with amazing rapidity.

Overall the producer has assembled a strong team for this most interesting play. Sligo audiences will have a chance to see, too, what the future talent of the town is likely to be with second generation Gallaghers, Mc Kinneys and Donaghys together with Pádraig Waters in the line-up and sharing a lot of the action early on.

from The Sligo Champion, August 9th, 1974