Don't. Miss. The Walworth Farce

The Walworth Farce has four actors, but 14 characters played by them, writes Brian Byrne. Which makes the play presented by Kilcullen Drama Group this coming week arguably the most challenging one in its around 90-year history, according to director Eilis Phillips.

Written by Enda Walsh in 2006 and first performed by the Druid Theatre Company, it's a play within a play, about a highly dysfunctional family of father and two sons, living in London. Each day, the trio put on a play in their flat — the 'Farce' of the title — that purports to keep alive their story of how they came to leave their native Cork. In their own 'Groundhog Day', they are condemned to exist in a repetitive life, with just one son, Sean, allowed to leave each morning to buy exactly the same set of rations in a nearby Tesco. One day, he takes home the wrong bag. 

The father, Dinny, played by Maurice O'Mahony with terrifying intensity, has the sons in real fear about the dangers of London, supposedly lurking in the cracks of the footpaths and waiting to rise and consume them. 

Blake, the older son, is portrayed with extraordinary versatility by Allan Clarke, with the most roles, including all the female parts. Sean is played by Adam Treacy, and his daily excursions for groceries may be slowly making him aware that all is not evil in the world outside. Hayley, played by Sinead McKenna with a perfect sense of how to project dramatic emotion, is the Tesco cashier who thinks she’s doing a good deed by returning Sean’s shopping bag, but soon finds herself in the middle of the family's nightmare. 

This is a high-tension, high-energy, very physical production that requires the actors playing the sons to switch instantaneously between their parts, mostly while staying on stage. The challenge is not just for the Kilcullen Drama Group players and their director, but also for the audience, who will need to concentrate. For those who keep up, there will be a real, if unsettling, satisfaction.

The Walworth Farce runs in Kilcullen Town Hall from 15th to 18th April. I've seen the preview, and it's a production not to be missed. Tickets are on sale now from Woodbine Books and Eventbrite.   

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