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Jean and company change with times
Limerick's newest theatre company Changing Times makes its stage debut next week in Friars' Gate theatre Kilmallock
THE times they are a-changing, sang Bob Dylan back in the 1960s - a tune he could play today to a receptive audience in a world that has moved from prosperity to recession.
It was a similar notion that informed the naming of Limerick's newest theatre company, Changing Times, when it was founded last September by local woman Jean Fay.
"My husband Loren came up with that name, he was involved in setting up the group with me and the reason was that times are changing and a lot of people look to theatre now, they see it doesn't cost a whole lot of money to be involved in it, they get great fun out of it and they're out and doing something. So the times are changing."
The group is living up to this frugal ideal with their debut production, the comedy Bad Sunday, which takes place at Friars' Gate theatre Kilmallock next Thursday, January 28.
As well as building their sets at St Munchin's College, where Jean teaches French and music, the group is rifling through their own wardrobes for the cast.
"For this play we're trying to source all the costumes ourselves, because the money isn't there at the moment, but hopefully..." she trails off, perhaps imagining a day when there will be cash in the coffers for some more lavish productions.
But you have to start somewhere. Jean herself spent a dozen years in a prominent city theatre group, but following a diploma in theatre and MA in drama therapy she felt moved to explore the medium and its possibilities further - hence the formation of Changing Times.
"I was with Quarry Players for about 12 years. It wasn't that I left, I went off and did a diploma in theatre and an MA in drama therapy and from that I saw how drama can be very effective in reaching all types of people.
"So, rather than just putting on one play a year, I want to do lots of different things - rehearsed readings, improvised pieces, pub theatre, dinner theatre, as well as full length plays - and try to be as inclusive as possible where all the different talents get a chance to shine."
The group which has been in rehearsal since November, with a break for Christmas, has had an acting workshop with Myles Breen and there is another one planned for the end of February, says Jean, to help people improve their skills with an eye to their next play.
"We have our next production lined up at the Belltable in April which is Dancing at Lughnasa. As soon as this is finished, we'll be going into rehearsals for the next one," says Jean.
But for now the focus is on Bad Sunday which tells the story of a family outing in a borrowed car, where the eccentric father, prim and proper mother, dysfunctional son and daughter and religious zealot of a granny in turn confess to various acts of indecency, destruction and disorder.
Funny from the start, and right through, with some poignant moments, this piece never lets up on energy, and is guaranteed to entertain, as it did Jean when she came across it first.
"Well I was reading loads of one acts and I found this book of plays that were put on in Bewley's Cafe. This one was written by Mark Wale and I'd never seen it before, but I just couldn't stop laughing, it was one of the funniest things I've ever read.
"To direct it was a little tricky at the start, because it's set in a car with the family going off on a Sunday drive, you know your typical Irish family and they all have different issues and it's very claustrophobic the way they're all in the car together. For the set we actually built five boxes, so it's very minimalistic, but very effective."
After a night in the Kilmallock theatre, the play comes into Limerick for two nights in the Absolute Hotel, where it will be put on as dinner theatre.
"People get a two course meal and see the play," says Jean. "It's a different style of theatre and people might think, instead of going out on a Friday night, they might do this."
Changing times indeed.
Bad Sunday is in Friars' Gate Theatre, Kilmallock, on Thursday, January 28. Bookings 063-98727 / www.friarsgate.ie, tickets j12/j10. It plays in the Absolute Hotel on Friday and Saturday, January 29 and 30 at 8pm. Dinner is served afterwards at 9pm and it's j25 per person
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