A first for Joan, a return for Collette in Kilcullen play

High jinks during rehearsals, For Better, For Worse.

When Kilcullen Drama Group stages the comedy ‘For Better, For Worse’ next week, the actors will include a first-timer whose family has been part of the group since its beginnings, as well as featuring a former Wizard of Oz, writes Brian Byrne.

The play is the sequel to the group’s last production, ‘The Two Loves of Gabriel Foley’ and for Joan Murphy who has been a member of the group for some 20 years, it’s her first time actually on the stage. Her late father Harry and mother Madge were both starring actors in their day, as have been most of her siblings, notably Vivian who is still a regular and also in this latest play.

“I would normally be happy backstage — I usually act as prompter to the shows — but this time I got a gentle nudge from Eilis and John,” Joan says. That’s director Eilis Phillips and veteran actor, director and producer with the group John Martin. The ‘nudge’ she describes as having been ‘persuasive’. “So I just decided I’d give it a go. Mam was always saying to me to try it myself, but I never had the confidence. This time I just told myself I want to do this before I get too old to do it.” And she says she’s having a great time, despite being initially nervous. “As time goes on I’m feeling a bit more relaxed about it, and it’s a relatively small role, with not too much to learn." Joan is playing Minnie McGinty, the 'best friend' of another character, Lucy Lacey. "Minnie's a bit of a gossip, and a bit spiteful with it. She's very nosy, wanting to know about everyone else so she can pass it on. She's really just pretending to be Lucy's friend so she can get the lowdown." 

Meantime, that Lucy Lacey part is being played by Collette Fitzgerald, who is returning to the Kilcullen Drama Group after a long absence. "After living in London for a while when I finished college, I came back in 1994 and was in a one-act, 'Drinking Companions', along with Sabina Reddy," she recalls. "Then I just went away from it for a long time, got married and was just busy." Collette still recalls her first starring role, as the Wizard of Oz when she was in Junior Infants in Athgarvan primary school. "My Mam Mary Phelan made my costume, and we still have the photos," she says with a laugh. "Then as I got a bit older I was in the Tops of the Classes performances in CPC. The Kilcullen Capers were also a big part of my life when they were on — we were in the Sunnyhill group, I was really involved in it for years. When I was in college in Carlow later I also did a bit of acting, but let it go when I went to London."

In 2019 Colette went back on the boards in Kilcullen with 'Twelve Angry Jurors', produced by Evelyn O'Sullivan's Drama Dynamics adult class. "I was juror number eight — the Henry Fonda part in the film 'Twelve Angry Men'. Then Covid hit and everything stopped. When I saw the note of the Kilcullen Drama Group AGM a while back I decided I'd like to have another go."

Her part of Lucy Lacey in the upcoming play is completely unlike Collette herself. "She's a miserable ould biddy, and I'm finding it very hard not to smile in the middle of it all. She is a great part, really, and though it took me a while to get into her, I think I'm there now."

The play, written by Jimmy Keary, opens in the Town Hall Theatre on November 22, with further performances on the 23rd, 25th (Gala Night) and December 1, 2 and 3. Tickets available through Berney’s Chemist 045 481497.

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