New play from John MacKenna
Athy writer John MacKenna's new play Breathless will get its world premiere in the Riverbank in Newbridge on Friday/Saturday October 21/22. Admission is €15/€12.
On a summer morning, four women find themselves on a roadside. They remember the lives they lived, the families they belonged to and the circumstances of their disappearance but they have no knowledge of each other, of why they’re in that place or of where they’re going. In reliving their experiences they come face to face with the strengths and frailties that made them the people they are and prepare to face what lies ahead.
In this new play, John MacKenna explores the circumstances and effects of disappearance, not just on those left behind but also on those who have disappeared.
“I wanted to write a play that recognises the lives of women who disappear -- the real lives," the author says. "The fact of their disappearance doesn’t change the people they are, it simply brings them into a new dimension. The four women in this play bring the strengths and failings that were part and parcel of their daily lives into a condition where loss, confrontation, anger and even humour are unavoidable.
"I didn’t set out to write a documentary play -- this is a work of fiction -- but it is, of course, informed by the fact that I live in an area where there have been a number of disappearances. The fact that the cast and director also live in that area brings an added immediacy to the production. But this is a work of theatre and it looks at questions beyond the fact of disappearance. It looks at life and death and optimism in the face of everything fate throws at people.”
Breathless is produced by Mend and Makedo Theatre Co, which was founded in the early eighties to produce new work from its base in Athy. Since then the company has premiered a dozen new plays.
The director, Petra Costigan-Oorthuijs, trained in physical theatre in Utrecht, in her native Holland, before coming to Ireland where she established ToBe, Ireland’s first theatre-based learning company. Her most recent production in Ireland was “I Am,” based on the life of John Clare.
John MacKenna is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, documentary maker and playwright. His most recent book is a biography of Ernest Shackleton. His new book, a fictionalised memoir, is due for publication in 2006. His fiction has won Irish Times; Hennessy; C Day Lewis and Leitrim Guardian awards and his radio work has won him a Jacob’s award.
The play will be also performed in the Moat Theatre, Naas, on November 23.
Sinead Redmond.
