Sligo Drama Circle Return with John B. Keane Epic

After ten months away from the Hawk’s Well stage, Sligo Drama Circle make a welcome return with a John B. Keane masterpiece. “The Year of the Hiker” is regarded as one of the Irish playwright’s finest works, exploring as it does the classic themes of outsiders, greed, jealousy and love. It will open at the Hawk’s Well tonight, Tuesday, November 25 and runs until Saturday 29 inclusive at 8pm nightly. Tonight’s performance is almost sold out but there are still a handful of tickets to the midweek shows so book yours via the theatre box office on (071) 9161518. Tickets cost E10 (E8 concession). Directed by long-time Drama Circle member Fintan Whelan, the play tells the story of the Lacey family whose father, the “Hiker”, walked away from family, home and responsibility some twenty years before the play’s opening scene. The wounds and distress have not been healed and on the morning of daughter Mary’s wedding to local doctor, Willie Dolly, the talk is of the fear that the “Hiker” might turn up and further embarrass the family’s hard-won status in the farming community.

When the wedding party depart the Hiker returns and he is nothing like his legendary mythic status but is a tired whipped dog, home to die in a warm corner. His wandering Bohemian spirit and his sense of home are gone yet he blames Freda for driving him away. All the family have achieved something with their life in his absence, with his eldest son Joe taking on the father’s role and running the farm. Now his return, like the bad penny, threatens all this security and respectability. The play has a handful of emotionally charged moments, particularly between the Hiker and his estranged relatives. As an opening production, Fintan could hardly have chosen a harder play, but everyone who has worked on this production has enthused about the ability of this first-time director. The play is also a fitting final dramatic production for an exceptional year of drama at the Hawk’s Well, which has seen productions from The Blue Raincoat, Beezneez, Coolera Dramatic Society and Everyman Productions to name a few.

from The Sligo Weekender, November 25th, 2003