Dinner Theatre Comes To Sligo

Dinner theatre has proved to be a most popular way of combining two aspects of the good life – dining out and entertainment. Most large cities in the Western World and many smaller ones have found that there is great public response to the idea. Dinner Theatre comes to the Sligo Park Hotel on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday August 26th, 27th, 28th and again on Wednesday and Thursday, September 2nd and 3rd and already the interest is building up in the area.

For the venture, a new company, “The Sligo Players”, has been set up from among Sligo’s pool of actors with such well-known personalities as Joan Fitzpatrick, Walter Mc Donagh, Paddy Dooney, Pauline Mc Niffe, Irene Fleming, Robert Burnside, Pam Donaghy and Lionel Gallagher taking leading roles. The large cast includes seven exciting personalities, many of them being the second generation of Sligo’s established players.

Director of the show is New Yorker Philip Price, who has brought a real sense of professionalism to the Sligo theatre world. Last summer, Philip directed “Endgame” by Samuel Beckett at The Venue, Strandhill for Sligo Drama Circle and his work on that show sent a buzz of excitement round the local theatre scene. This year Philip has already directed “The Hour Glass” by W. B. Yeats as part of the Yeats International Summer School and those who are working with this experienced and talented man are finding their work intensive but most rewarding.

To many who have experience of the New York theatre or who may have read theatre reviews in such papers as The New York Times, the name of Mary Brecht as a designer and maker of costumes will be familiar. Mary did the much-admired “Endgame” costumes last season and is in charge of that department again for “Rain”. Design is by well-known artist Ken Cordall-Cryar and George Williams – sets are by master carpenter, james Farrell and lighting is in the hands of Dave Meehan with Joe Meehan as Stage Manager. Betty Meehan handles publicity.

The play “Rain” by Somerset Maugham is a delightful piece of theatre and ideal for an after dinner audience. Many will have read it as a short story or have seen the cinema or TV version as “The Story of Sadie Thompson”. The South Sea island of Pago Pago is the setting for the battle between good and evilwith the American prostitute Sadie confronted by the reforming missionary, Rev. Davidson. But wherein lies the good and where the eil is the problem as the tale unfolds. And for those who do not know the story, there may be quite a surprise result.

Dinner in the Sligo Park will be at 7pm with a combined Dinner-Theatre ticket costing £7.50. But for those who prefer their theatre on a less well-fed stomach, admission to the play will only be available at all intervals. The curtain rises on “Rain” at 8.30pm. Booking at the Sligo Park Hotel, phone (071) 3291 or the Yeats memorial Building (071) 2693 from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 2.00pm to 5.00pm from Monday August 24th.

from The Sligo Champion, August 21st, 1981