Remembering 'The Boyfriend'

The transition year students of Cross and Passion College recently took part in the annual musical which this year was ‘The Boyfriend’. Everybody in the year was heavily involved in one way or another and their contribution was greatly appreciated. Along with Miss Byrne, Phionagh Gibson, Brian Brady, Anne O’ Connell, staff members and all the students, the musical was a fantastic success and shall be remembered for a long time to come.



At the start of the play we were introduced to Hortense (Zainab Afolabi), a French maid, who works for Madame Dubonnet (Fiona Murphy) in the Villa Caprice, a school for young ladies. Mme Dubonnet is the headmistress. Maisie (Ellie McMahon), Fay (Niamh Corrigan), Nancy (Fiona Shirran) and Dulcie (Orna Whyte) are very excited about the carnival Ball and have just returned to the Villa having collected their costumes for the ball at Monsieur Gasten’s.

Polly Browne (Lisa Kennedy) is the only girl who dosen’t seem to have a boyfriend - so she invents one and pretends to get letters from him. However, the messenger boy from Gaston’s arrives with the costume for Polly Browne and when they meet – it’s love at first sight.

When Percival Browne, Polly’s father (Chris Walsh), arrives at the school, Mme Dubonnet remembers that he and she had had a fling together in their youth. At first Percival is rather embarrassed but Mme. Dubonnet’s charm wins him over. Hortense finds Polly and Tony together, but promises not to tell Mme Dubonnet. Lord and Lady Brockhurst (Jack Rigby & Lorraine Clarke) are on holiday in Nice and soon discover their son Tony .

Towards the end of the Carnival Ball, all the troubles of the day seem to be sorted out and as Mme. Dubonnet says, ‘La, la, it seems that love is in the air to-night’. Each member of the cast put a huge effort into the production, doing their best in order to make the show as enjoyable and as fun as could be. We think it is fair to say that they accomplished that!

Everyone in 4th year undertook a job in relation to the production. Jobs included set design, stage management, programme, costume and make-up, props, ticket selling, front of house and building the set. All of these jobs were done and fulfilled by everyone involved to an exceptional standard. They not only worked hard but they enjoyed it and had fun and without them it would not have been able to be staged.

Each show began on the dot at 8 o’clock and was finished by 9.45 pm. An interval took place for 15 minutes during which a tuck shop was in operation and raffle tickets were sold. We would like to thank anyone who donated spot prizes to the raffles. It is most definitely appreciated!

The experience of taking part in the show was great and everyone is truly delighted on how well it was performed by the cast and all the dancers. Each night the cast and dancers performed to a packed hall boosting confidence within themselves to do better than the last time. ‘The Boyfriend’ will live on for a long time to come.

Ellen Kelly and Carmen Lau.