Louis Lovett’s joyous theatre work infused with the ‘spirit of play’

A THEATRICAL extravaganza that will "appeal to young and old alike" is how actor Louis Lovett describes The Girl Who Forgot To Sing Badly, coming to the Lime Tree this week.

The actor - who played the translator for the visit of Royal de Luxe’s Granny - and Theatre Lovett return with the play, one that has toured all over the world and following on from a sell out staging of Mr Foley, The Radio Operator, last year.

This play tells the tale of Peggy O’Hegarty, a young girl who saves her city from disaster, and Lovett assumes all of the roles in a piece he describes as akin to a “marathon”.

“It appeals hugely to both young and old, and I suppose that is because of the different creative elements that have been brought to bear,” explains Lovett, well known for star turns in Killinascully and Moone Boy.

“We have been all over the world with this show over the last five years and the set really needs to be seen to be believed. It is like a two hander in one way, me and the set.”

Indeed Paul O’Mahony’s set - representing the world of a packing company - is astonishing, adding to an appeal that has seen the play performed in Sydney’s Opera House and 42nd Street, New York.

“It is fantastically joyous, a very celebratory style of theatre and audiences just love it - it makes you feel good,” says Lovett, who founded the company with wife Muireann Ahern Lovett, who hails from Newcastle West.

“I am up there, a middle aged man, playing my socks off and what really drives me, I suppose, is the spirit of play. At Theatre Lovett we take our play very seriously.

“It is a feel good factor and it is the ingenuity of all the elements within this one, compact piece of theatre. This show is a marathon, both physically and vocally, for myself, and the set I compare to some Victorian gentleman’s exercise machine,” he laughs.

“I love to play with my audience and I am ready to accept any of the unpredictably that might be launched from the seven or eight year old or even the 48 or 68 year olds if they contribute,” he added.

The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly will take to the stage in the Lime Tree this Friday and Saturday - two performances each day. The play is suitable for children aged seven years and up - and adults of all ages. The Saturday 12pm show will be audio described and captioned. See www.limetreetheatre.ie