Sixty-five years on the Kilcullen stage for Dick

The late Bernard Berney with Dick Dunphy in 'A Christmas Carol' in 2014.

When Dick Dunphy steps out on the Kilcullen theatre stage this coming Saturday evening, he'll be marking 65 years since his first play with Kilcullen Drama Group, writes Brian Byrne.

Dick, along with Esther Reddy, will be performing a sketch in support of the Kilcullen debut presentation of Bridie's List, a one-act play written and directed by 17-year-old Anna Dunlea, grand-daughter of Nessa and the late Pat Dunlea.

County Waterford-born Dick arrived in Kilcullen in the mid-1950s, a young employee of the Dublin and District Milk Board. Having been in some plays at school, and liking it, he joined Kilcullen Drama Group. "I knew it would be a good social outlet for a young man new to the scene ... and you could meet women there," he recalled some years ago. He first performed with the Kilcullen group in Two for the Road in 1959. 

Dick Dunphy is 86 next month, and it has been a few years since his last appearance on stage. He and Esther are reprising The Lotto sketch which Dick and the late Bernard Berney wrote in 1987, the year the Irish National Lottery was founded. Dick and Bernard were well known in Kilcullen as an infallible comedic team, producing and playing many sketches for charity performances as well as being foils to each other in full plays.

Tickets for Bridie's List are available in Berney's Pharmacy 045 481497. There are two showings, beginning at 7.30pm and 8.45pm.

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