Catch The Diamond Spider while you can..

The Diamond Spider, a new play by Kilkenny playwright Willie Egan is currently undergoing a 4 night run in the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny.

Word of mouth has been uniformly positive, with particular praise going to local acting legend, the esteemed Brendan Corcoran. The work of Willie Egan has been growing in stature and reputation since he first hit the stage of the Watergate Theatre with the Anner Players a couple of years back. This play is further proof that he is a playwright to be reckoned with, especially with the calibre of cast that he has attracted with this piece.

The Diamond Spider runs in the Watergate Theatre until Saturday January 31st. 056 – 7761674 is the number to call for more information.

Meet Franco Begbie

We’ve just released the third video from our production of Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting‘, performed in the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny, last June. The scene (above) features Ross Costigan as Renton and Niall Sheehy as Begbie. It’s also the introduction to the “c word” in the show. Yes… one of many.

For more clips, see the Devious Theatre YouTube.

Review: Start Magazine Talk Up The War

The following can be found in the Winter (08/09) edition of Start Magazine, available here online.

Devious Theatre’s radio version of H.G Wells’ War Of The Worlds (KCLR – October 31st) attempted to follow the pattern set by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre’s famous version, incidentally broadcast seventy years to the day.

To our perhaps more sophisticated ears, the earliest part of the production worked best, as the Martian invasion was slowly revealed with programmes being interrupted as the horror unfolded.

The imaginative destruction of the region was replete with local villages such as Tulla and Castlecomer and this added to the interest and excitement felt by the listener.

The production itself was well prestented, with strong sound effects, especially able to bring over the idea of the multitude fleeing the approaching terror. All in all the piece was a job well done and suggests an alternative approach that can be taken by theatre companies in the area to produce work that doesn’t require touring and the costs invovled.

This was theatre sent directly to the listener.

Download: If you haven’t already downloaded our podcast production of the show, please do so by clicking here. After all, it’s free!

A Guaranteed Good Night Out

Don’t just take our word for it, take John Cleere’s in his review of 2008 as featured in this week’s Kilkenny Advertiser.

On the theatre scene there was only one word to describe the year: The Devious Theatre Company (ok, four words). Their first production, “Heart Shaped Vinyl”, had me hoping they weren’t going to be a one-hit wonder, but I needn’t have worried, they repeated the success not once, but twice, in 2008.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the film “Trainspotting“, but the stage version by Devious Theatre in The Watergate was the highlight of the year. They quickly followed it up with an original play, “Smitten”, by John Morton. I’ve no idea what their plans are for 2009, but already at this early stage of their development, a Devious Theatre production is a guaranteed good night out.

You can read the article in full here.

Scruff Daddy article on Devious Theatre

Scruff Daddy is an online arts magazine that’s just launched over at www.Scruffdaddy.ie and they’ve just done a feature on us. Kie Carew of Scruff Daddy recently conducted an interview with myself about the company. It encompasses everything from how we got started to the productions we’ve done so far to our future plans. The magazine is just starting up and it’s looking really good so do make sure to give it a good once over. Here’s a bit of the interview, the rest in full is over on the website.

how did ye all get into acting?

Generally pretty well. I think the good reception we’ve received has been down to two things. Firstly, our objective was to produce new theatre for younger audiences and I think the fact that the plays have been so different have made more people receptive to the work we’re doing. And secondly, the fact that we started up at a time when the theatre scene in Kilkenny had hit a major lull meant that our work was automatically something refreshing and it surprised us because immediately there was an audience who wanted to be served with fresh, alternative theatre.

For the full transcript of the interview, check out www.Scruffdaddy.ie

‘Trainspotting’ – Spud’s Accident

The second in the series of video clips from our production of ‘Trainspotting‘ in the Watergate Theatre last June, has just gone online over on the Devious YouTube.

Filmed by our Devious friend Alan Slattery, check out the second scene featuring Stephen Colfer as lovable acid-head ‘Spud’, as he reveals the horrors of his “accident”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Devious Theatre YouTube, as there’s still plenty more videos to come.