Keane Play For Town Hall

Sligo Drama Circle returns to the Town Hall for its Summer Theatre on Tuesday July 11th with a revival of John B. Keane’s tragic-comedy “Sive”. This All-Ireland winning drama in Athlone in 1959 should prove a popular choice among visitors and locals alike and will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout July and into August. Producer Walter Mc Donagh has assembled a strong cast to play the Keane characters – the tinkers, matchmakers and farm folk of a remote, mountainy part of Southern Ireland.

Joe Meehan and Ronan Mc Dermott fill the roles of the singing tinker poets Pats Bocock and Carthalawn. Liam Mc Kinney plays Thomasheen Sean Rua, the matchmaker, and Lionel Gallagher takes the part of Seán Dota, the old, worn-out farmer who wants to marry Sive. Eamon Flanagan is Liam Scuab, her young sweetheart, while her family is made up of Frances Downey as the grandmother, Ann Mc Dermott as Mena and Ray Cawley, who makes a welcome return to the Sligo stage as Mike Glavin.

In the title role of Sive, the Drama Circle introduces Michelle Fitzpatrick to her first major role. With the Fitzpatrick tradition behind her, there is little doubt Michelle will be a big success on her debut. With the firm hand of Walter Mc Donagh to weld them together, this cast looks certain to have the crowds flocking back to the Quay Street theatre on each Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30pm.

from The Sligo Champion, July 1978