What the Dickens?

So what would Dickens characters Tiny Tim and Oliver Twist be doing if they lived in the 21st century of cominatcha media and celebrity, writes Brian Byrne. In last week's presentations of Jonathan Dorf's Run Like the Dickens, a motley but very talented group of young Kilcullen people gave us a fairly good idea.

They would likely have become—something like Bill Cullen's street barrow start to millionaire success story—media-savvy and cut-throat business moguls. Or more likely the celebrity fodder operated by such 'corporates'. What would Dickens have made of it all?

He probably would have enjoyed it immensely. 'Run' was a non-stop stampede of satire, comic send-up and an underlying wry look at our modern 'values', grounded as they are in 15 minutes of carefully manipulated fame.

With no less than 44 characters played on stage, there was a serious degree of multiple-parts performance by the members of Kilcullen Youth Theatre, and the management of all those involved behind the simple black curtain 'set' was an extraordinary feat.

The entertainment level was very high, the smack-bang dialogue often achieving hilarity. The performances trumped the youth and relative inexperience of the players and suggest there's no danger of Kilcullen Drama Group turning into a rest home for its senior actors.

(Which seniors, by the way, will be doing their own next gig in late November, with Alan Aykbourn's 'If I Were You'.)

Meantime, congrats to all concerned—especially director and producer Eilis and Siobhan Phillips—for yesterday's culminating matinee of great fun in the Town Hall Theatre as winter outside keened and doused its way into the remainder of 2011. Thanks also to veteran RTE broadcaster Donncha O Dulaing for coming down to introduce the final performance—he was mightily impressed.

It is the nature of things that many, if not most of those same young people will be leaving Kilcullen to make their lives elsewhere. For some of those, their short experiences on the local theatre boards may well be the kickstart to them contributing to drama and the arts wherever they land, for years, decades, and even generations to come.

That's an awesome thought.


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