'A Life' with young and old
Rehearsing for ‘A Life’ was certainly something different for the ‘old stagers’ of Kilcullen Drama Group, because for the first time they have been involved with students from Cross & Passion College Transition Year as fellow actors.
According to Bernard Berney, producer and also playing the lead character Dermot Drumm, it was a ‘refreshing’ experience working with the young people, though it took getting used to.
"We found that the students live for enjoying the day, while we older ones take a longer, more serious view,” he told the Diary.
Because the Hugh Leonard play examines the same set of characters at the start of their lives and towards the end, in tandem, the rather elder age-profile Drama Group had to look outside itself for the younger actors.
“We always wanted to produce this play, but we were never able to cast the younger characters,” Bernard says. “I went to see the Transition Year production of 'The Boyfriend' before Christmas and found how quite gifted they were, and that's when we realised that we actually could do 'A Life'.”
With the enthusiastic cooperation of CPC teacher and musical producer Lucy Byrne, supported by school Principal Paul Tyrrell, time and space for rehearsals was made available at the CPC end.
There are two sets of students involved, who will alternate nights. Bernard says the older and younger actors have melded together well. "They have infected us with the joy of being here for the moment, so when were were rehearsing together, it was a quite different atmosphere than when we adults were rehearsing on our own."
On the play itself, Bernard says the ‘irascible, sarcastic, difficult man’ which is the Desmond Drumm character has apparently a lot of the late Hugh Leonard's own character, at least as the playwright presented himself publicly. “But the fact that Drumm had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness changed him, and from what I believe, Leonard's own views on things like the existence of God also changed as he came towards the end of his own life. It was almost as if the play was prophetic."
The play is serious in tone, but Bernard says it also contains 'wonderful humour'. He says he found himself very much in tune with the theme and story. "There are pieces of all of us in Drumm, but I also felt that if my own life hadn't taken some of the turns it did, and I hadn't been influenced by people in my youth and adult life, if those people hadn't been there in such a positive way, I would have been Mr Drumm."
The production runs from tomorrow (Tuesday) through to Sunday. Tickets as usual are available at Bernard’s place of business, where he dispenses pills and wisdom in equal parts.
Brian Byrne.
(NOTE: A version of this piece appeared on the Kilcullen page of last Wednesday's Kildare Nationalist.)
