Smitten Tickets On Sale

Tickets have just gone on sale for our latest production, Smitten. They can be bought from the good folks at Rollercoaster Records on Kieran Street and they cost 10EURO. Tickets can be booked on 056 – 7763669.

Smitten will open in just under 3 weeks time and will run for 4 nights from Wednesday August 20^th to Saturday August 23^rd at 8pm nightly. All information and updates on the show can be found on our website, Bebo and Myspace sites.

The show will be performed in The Barn, Church Lane, Kilkenny.

The Barn is a studio space that lies right in the heart of medieval Kilkenny. Located in Church Lane, directly behind St. Canice’s Cathedral, the building was formerly home to the old Loreto Convent. The space was developed by Barnstorm Theatre Company who have used it for performance and rehearsal over the years. It is located directly behind The Good Sheperd Centre building and we’re delighted to be able to bring a Devious crowd into one of the best performance spaces in Kilkenny.

Please click on our Smitten themed map to The Barn above for further orientation!

Smitten rehearses on

And on we go again. After Trainspotting it didn’t take us awfully long to get back into the rehearsal buzz on a new play. It was either the stupidest idea in the world or a real smart move to capitalise on the success of Trainspotting. Either way, we’ll find out when the curtain goes up in 3 weeks time!

It has been a bit of a stressful one so far. Of that there’s no doubt. It’s mainly been centred on finding a female cast to slot into the parts and that’s been damn hard. Where are the actresses in the South East?! We’ve really struggled with this one but thankfully we’ve shored up all the gaps and the boat sails on! Yup, us folks Devious Theatre are suckers for nautical metaphors.

Our press releases went out this week and as Ross already posted, we hit that Credit Union window with a dose of slightly unhinged A game… it wasn’t going to get the better of us again, oh no! So ship Smitten sets sail.

The cast has been great so far and I think they’re really going to give a good accounting of themselves when the play goes up. We’re blessed with them, truly. There’s no bigger pain in the hoop than uninterested actors and having to implement ‘carrot on a stick’ direction but between Trainspotting and Smitten it’s been a joy to work with the crew we’ve had. Acting has always been my first love, after nautical metaphors. However, over the past few months my duties as a director or a writer has put acting in the back seat for me, only popping up as a utility player in times of difficulty (I’m like the Ole Gunner Solsjkaer of Devious Theatre!) but the passion and the commitment of the Devious acting troupe in 2008 has really roused in me those acting flames again. Just seeing how they’ve approached roles and the constant posing of questions, experimenting, discussion, imagination and tenacity they’ve brought to our projects really shows them up for the talented artists they are. I always found artist to be a wanky word for an actor but it does perfectly describe the attitude this lot have had to their work. They make the words sound as natural as sea water lapping against a boat! And just to confirm the lot of them, apart from myself, they are Stephen Colfer, Ross Costigan, Amy Dunne, Ken McGuire, Kevin Mooney, Lynsey Moran, Niamh Moroney, Maria Murray, Suzanne O’Brien, Jack O’Leary, Annette O’Shea and Geoff Warner Clayton.

I’ll be writing about the play itself in greater detail soon but just to give it a bit of context, it is a selection of interlinking stories based around a group of 20 something’s in present day Kilkenny. It’s not something intended to travel or intended to be a piece of well made theatre. I like to call it a theatrical collage, if such a term makes sense. The scenes are random, unconnected and veer wildly between comedy and tragedy. It’s a new piece of work that is designed to pay tribute to Kilkenny. There’s never really been a piece of Kilkenny based theatre before, not that I know of anyway, and with a bit more of a spring in our step we thought it would be good to get some Kilkenny stories up there. It’s not a real interpretation of Kilkenny, it’s very much the romantic one… albeit with lots of rain. Lots of rain. But it’s the romantic Kilkenny that lies in my head, with the stories shot through with a heavy dose of magic realism. While the stories in the play aren’t ‘about’ Kilkenny, the idea is that they’ll evoke the place anyway. It’s a great city and so many stories happen out there so I thought it might be nice to characterize some of these on stage. And I think that with Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Galway, Limerick and even Wexford (thank you Billy Roche) being represented so strongly by their own indigenous theatre companies that the time was right for us to create something that depicted Kilkenny in the theatre. Hopefully it’ll work out. If not, it’s just a play about lost 20 something’s trying to find their bearings in life! So thematically, it’s just like Trainspotting but minus the skag!

Also, much props to our director Colm Sheenan who has bowled us over with his enthusiasm, energy and dedication to the project. He’s been nothing short of phenomenal, even if his attention to detail is Kubrickish in his analysis of chair positioning! He’s been a wonderful captain of our ship this far and despite all the choppy waters we’ve encountered on our journey I’m sure we’ll arrive at Port Barn on August 20^th full of cheer and of course, grog!

John Morton

Writer

Smitten

SMITTEN – St Canice’s Credit Union Window Display

It’s only a few short weeks since we raised some eyebrows and furrowed some brows on High Street, with an awesome display of ‘Trainspotting’ posters in St Canice’s Credit Union window, and already we’re back again.

This week will see us taking things up a notch promotion-wise in the run up to ‘Smitten’, with press releases issued to all local print media and a brand-new window display to feast your eyes on. If you’re around High Street over the next week then make sure and stop by the Credit Union for a less stomach-turning Devious display. A collage of scenic shots featuring Kilkenny landmarks by Eddie Brennan, logos, maps, artwork and posters by Paddy Dunne and behind-the-scenes-snaps by myself and Ken McGuire.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it down to the Credit Union this week, you can check out shots of the display here on the Devious Theatre Bebo Page along with behind-the-scenes snaps at ‘Smitten’ rehearsals and there’s still plenty more displays and promotional material to come.

Tickets for Smitten are being sold in Rollercoaster Records, Kieran Street from 21st of July and they are 10EURO. The show runs August 20 – 23 and starts 8pm nightly. For more information and updates, check out www.devioustheatre.com

SMITTEN Announcement

SMITTEN
1. struck, as with a hard blow.
2. grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted.
3. very much in love.

Following on from the success of Trainspotting, we are proud to announce another first for Kilkenny theatre this coming August. Smitten by John Morton will premiere in The Barn, Church Lane, Kilkenny on Wednesday August 20th and will run until Saturday August 23rd.

John Morton previously wrote Devious Theatre’s first production Heart Shaped Vinyl back in 2006 and this marks his second play to premiere for Devious Theatre. The play is being directed by Colm Sheenan, who has worked extensively with the group in the past.

Smitten depicts a tragicomic series of loosely interlinked vignettes set in Kilkenny City over a succession of rainy summer nights. The play takes its cues from the short stories of Raymond Carver and the films of Woody Allen (the early funny ones that is). The characters at the core of Smitten are trying to get their bearings in life, each stuck in their own limbo. The realities of adult life are dealing a harsh blow to the best laid plans, in a way that leaves them totally smitten… in all the meanings of the word.

Alcoholism. Pregnancy. Testicular Cancer. Apathy. Doomed Relationships.
Sock Puppets. Those elusive mystery girls. How to dance to Bruce Springsteen. And rain. Lots of rain. Smitten functions as a theatrical collage, with intertwining narratives and varying forms of narrative giving life to the comic and often tragic stories that litter the rainy streets of Kilkenny City.

The Barn is a studio space that lies right in the heart of medieval Kilkenny. Located in Church Lane, directly behind St. Canice’s Cathedral, the building was formerly home to the old Loreto Convent. The space was developed by Barnstorm Theatre Company who have used it for performance and rehearsal. Devious Theatre are delighted to be the first theatre group outside of Barnstorm to make use of one of the finest performance venues in Kilkenny City.

Tickets for Smitten are being sold in Rollercoaster Records, Kieran Street from 21st of July and they are 10EURO. The show runs August 20 – 23 and starts 8pm nightly. For more information and updates, check out www.devioustheatre.com

Trainspotting Review: Kilkenny Voice

Pictured: Stephen Colfer as ‘Spud’. Photo by Shane Hatton.

Another one from the long list of ‘Trainspotting’ reviews, this one from Aisling Hurley in the Kilkenny Voice.

A brilliant night of Trainspotting
A BRAVE and edgy production of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting by Kilkenny’s Devious Theatre Company finished an almost sell-out run at Kilkenny’s Watergate Theatre on Saturday.

Based on the novel that also inspired the 1996 hit film of the same name, the play centred on the lives of a group of young heroin users living in Edinburgh, Scotland, during the 1980s.

The fantastically gritty posters depicting characters in a variety of disturbing situations and the warning that the show contained scenes of a graphic nature suggested that the show would be one that Kilkenny theatre-goers would remember for some time.

It did not disappoint.

Ross Costigan delivered a strong performance as lead character and narrator Mark Renton. His portrayal of the unscrupulous but likeable anti-hero was a deviation from some of the more confrontational roles he has recently played and proved that the Kilkenny actor has an extremely bright future.

Other performances of note were those by Maria Murray in the role of Alison and Stephen Colfer who played Danny ‘Spud’ Murphy. Both young actors impressed the audience with their delivery of almost seamless monologues containing difficult subject matter relating to bodily functions.

The sensitive direction by Niamh Moroney and John Morton allowed the audience to wrestle between sympathy for the characters and complete despair that they would allow themselves end up in such a situation.

Full marks are also due to the cast for deciding to include the humiliating and sometimes difficult scenes where Spud soils the bed sheets in a friend’s house, where Renton searches through an overflowing toilet for opium suppositories and where Tommy (played by Ken McGuire) shoots heroin into his genitals.

With this production, The Devious Theatre Company achieved everything that they set out to – to offer Kilkenny audiences theatre that is fresh, exciting and a little bit deviant.

Other cast members included Niall Sheehy as Begbie, Paul Young as Johnny ‘Mother Superior’ Swan, John Morton as Sick Boy, Suzanne O’Brien as Dianne, Simone Kelly as Lizzie, Mairead Kiernan as June and Michael Murphy as a variety of characters.

The theatre group’s next show ‘Smitten’ will run in Cleere’s Theatre, Parliament Street in August. The play, written by John Morton, is set in Kilkenny and is a tragicomic series of vignettes set over a depressingly rainy summer.

Trainspotting Review: The Munster Express

Pictured: Ross Costigan as ‘Mark Renton’. Photo by Shane Hatton.

Another review of ‘Trainspotting’, this time thanks to Liam Murphy of the Munster Express;

The Devious Theatre Company returned in punk and grotesque glory to The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny with a high-octane production of Trainspotting by Shock Jock, Irvine Welsh.

Following on from last year’s weird musical, Cannibal – the Musical, this young and exciting theatre company went full-tilt into-your-face with the theatrical version of the 1993 hit novel that brought a Tarantino-style fame to Leith-born writer, Welsh. Welsh means to shock and be disgusting and further books like Filth Porno and Glue added to the reputation to compel and repulse in often equal measure.

The Litmus test or acid test of companies who take on this play is the famous toilet scene where Renton retrieves his heroin suppositories from a stinking toilet bowl or the waitress/tampon/tomato soup scene. And Devious Theatre Company caught that visceral mood of revulsion and attraction so well. A young adult audience gasped at the unflinching depiction and at the same time were gagging for it and gagging from it. John Morton and Niamh Moroney’s direction caught the mood so well without in any way over glamorising the despair of the characters lost in a toxic fog of hopes and shite.

Eddie Brennan’s set design was grim and grimy. Gerry Taylor’s lighting was stark and edgy as required. Alan Dawson’s sound design was a punk paradise of hard tunes for hard times. A song There Is A Light That Never Goes Out was new to me but it underlined the sliver of hope in such an unredemptive play.

The ensemble cast were excellent and never flinched from the awfulness of the context and never sank into cheap laughter-seeking. Ross Costigan as Renton dominated the production with a powerful physical performance that was very impressive. Maria Murray as Alison was equally powerful and she chilled me to the bone with biting realism. Ken McGuire was a convincing Tommy and his descent into degradation was powerful. Suzanne O’Brien was a significant Dianne as was Mairead Kiernan in a series of cameos. Michael Murphy played about ten parts and he was spot-on at all times. Simone Kelly looked great as Lizzie and caught the caring and uncaring female very well.

Niall Sheehy was the edgy psychopath, Begbie who would stab his father and shag his ma but he tended to rush the accent. John Morton was a fine Sick Boy. Phil Young excelled as Mother Superior and Stephen Colfer evoked sympathy for the bewildered Spud.

The ending of the play is a little bit of a cop-out but Devious gave it a theatrical value as the cast repeatedly changed The Lord’s Prayer. This was a production that led us into temptation and also delivered us from evil.

Trainspotting Review: Kilkenny People

Here’s another positive review for TRAINSPOTTING. It was published in Gerry Moran’s column in the July 2nd edition of the Kilkenny People.

THE OLD ORDER IS CHANGING, YIELDING PLACE TO NEW.

When, exactly, does the old order yield to the young? When, for instance, did the fifties finally surrender to the swinging sixties? When did showbands succumb to beat groups and discos? It’s never quite black or white but there comes a moment, I believe, when you just know something has changed.

I experienced one of those moments recently in our wonderful Watergate Theatre, I say wonderful for two reasons: one, it is a wonderful amenity (and thank you Tommy Martin for you vision and drive which gave Kilkenny the Watergate) and two, the production I was at was nothing short of wonderful. At least this writer thought so.

The production in question was Trainspotting, an adaptation of Scottish author Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel of the same name, by the Devious Theatre Company. “The Devious Theatre Company” according to the programme notes, “was formed in May 2006 by some theatre loving Kilkennyians who had a desire to bring fresh and different works to the local stage”.

Trainspotting is decidedly different. John B Keane it is not. Brian Friel it is not. Hugh Leonard it is not. Trainspotting is a production you bring your elderly aunt to if you want to ease her into an early grave. It’s a production you bring your mother to if you want to make her feel decidedly uneasy. As for elderly uncles and fathers – they’ll probably tell you they’ve seen it all and heard it all before. Men are like that. Full of s***.

Trainspotting is also full of s***. Literally. And more. A hell of a lot more. Only to be expected from a play about drugs and disillusionment in a depressed Edinburgh of the bleak, recessionary 80s. This play is rough, raw, coarse and down-right crude. But that’s what made it such a courageous, and successful, production.

The performances were far from flawless (just like this column) but it was passionate, it was vibrant, it was honest. I applaud all involved with the production – the crew, the directors: Niamh Moroney & John Morton and the cast: Ross Costigan, Ken McGuire, Niall Sheehy, Maria Murray, Stephen Colfer, Paul Young, John Morton, Suzanne O’Brien, Simone Kelly, Mariead Keirnan, Micheal Murphy, Paddy Dunne. And I have no difficulty whatsoever in singling out Ross Costigan who was the linchpin, the nucleus, the centre of gravity of the play. The guy was marvellous. Full stop.

Regarding theatre in Kilkenny – I have been privileged to come up in an era of the New Theatre Group, Pan Players, Theatre Unlimited, Kats, Bickerstaffe, Barnstorm to name but a few – all of whom made, and some of whom continue to make, a huge and enriching contribution to theatre life in our city.

But Thursday night last I felt that a new order has arrived. A new batch of actors. A young batch, a fresh batch, a vibrant batch. And I felt privileged to be sitting there, witnessing the arrival of this new order.

My friend and fellow columnist, John Cleere, who knows a thing or two about theatre (it’s not for nothing we have Cleere’s Theatre just across from the Watergate) wrote the following about the Devious Theatre Company recently: “The Devious Theatre could be as important to Kilkenny as Druid Theatre have been to Galway and Red Kettle to Waterford, given the proper encouragement and support”. I couldn’t agree more.

But you know something – even if the Devious Theatre Company never win acclaim, they are to be applauded for what they are doing now. For starters they’re putting bums on seats – and I thought it was wonderful to see so many young people in the Watergate last week. Such a change from the regular fuddy-duddies (like myself).

They’re also doing what they set out to do – they’re bringing fresh and different works to the local stage. And they do it with such energy and such enthusiasm. And it was that energy, that enthusiasm emanating from the stage, that made us, the audience, realise that this was something special. That this theatre group, this collection of youngsters, this collection if like-minded individuals, who love what they’re doing, who love theatre, will be around for a long time to come.

Watch out for the Devious Theatre Company. They’re good. They’re very good. They’re the future of theatre in Kilkenny.

All Over Bar The Shouting

Well, Trainspotting has come to a close. The aftershow party has rattled a few bodies right to the bone, we’ve been left reeling from some of the feedback heard so far and we’re gradually pieceing together our thoughts on the past week.

Speaking once more as a committee member, actor and having worked as producer on this production, I still find words escaping me as how to explain the events of the past few days.

Taking a bold step to speak on the behalf of the company, we deviants extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who came along to Trainspotting and all who enjoyed the production. Without doubt this has been our biggest challenge to date but reactions and feedback have by far exceeded any remote expectaion we may have had before opening the curtain last Tuesday night.

We’ll be posting reviews, comments from the cast and crew, photographs from the course of the week and opening up a few new areas on the website with an archive of Trainspotting material.

We’re taking a week off for ourselves before breaking into pre-production for our next show, due to open late August. It’s all over bar the shouting, but if any of the cast and crew still have voices after the weekend’s celebrations then it will be a minor miracle.

Once again, thanks to each and every one of you who shared in the Trainspotting experience. I genuinely hope you enjoyed it as much as we did in putting everything together.

We’ll be back later in the week with more.

Ken