Smitten – A Play From Kilkenny

It’s a little bit weird being at this stage of any kind of creative endeavour. The stage where you’ve really worked so long on something and it’s just about to be presented to people and you’re not really sure if its ready or indeed, if it’s much cop. Well, I’m at that stage now with Smitten. I could probably spend years working on it and we would probably love another few weeks of rehearsals but that’s always the way and really, beside the point. It’s opening this week and it’s going to be seen and I hope people like it and it’s all very much out of my hands.

Smitten is a story (or stories) that I’ve had, quite aimlessly, in my head for years and years. Initially, I just wanted to set something specifically in Kilkenny. It’s my hometown and I’ve lived with the place for so long that I just had this desire to put something to paper about the place because I’d love to read stuff set in Kilkenny myself. So, I had all these little stories and they were all random, often interlinked but mostly self contained. And they were all set in Kilkenny. Odd stuff like a story about a lovelorn waitress who had a heart she couldn’t keep in her chest and used to have to chase it all around the place. Or this character who used to turn to ice at the most awkward moments and break into tiny pieces. And there was a guy who could literally read peoples faces and a comedy story set at a funeral and there was a really awkward drug deal that went horribly wrong and all these other bits and pieces of assorted story bric-a-brac. And a lot of the stuff that found its way into the play was there too like angels and sock puppets and the grand romantic gestures. And thematically, really, it was all about being in your 20’s and the preoccupations you have at that time of your life. And of course, these were preoccupations that I had myself so I really wanted to express them in a story. I’d heard this phrase ‘Your teens are your body’s puberty but your twenties are your minds’ and it really summed up what I wanted to jot down. At first it was a novel but at this stage I’m a little too undisciplined to write a novel so I began working on this 90 minute screenplay. Not that I thought it would be a particularly good film but rather because I just wanted to get the fucking thing down on paper and try and batter out some sort of shape to it.

Then after Heart Shaped Vinyl (my first play, churned out in a month and thrown onstage before the umbilical cord could be cut) I had a bit more confidence about what went into writing a play. There was no pressure on me to write another and there was no particular need for me to do so but Smitten just jumped to mind. I had a fear that I’d have this story about the choices you face in your 20’s and that by the time I got around to executing it in any form I’d suddenly be in my 30’s. And as books and films are infinitely more ambitious ventures, I figured I’d try and adapt Smitten into a play. And that’s what I’ve spent the past year doing.

I tried to mould it into some decent structure and then tried to implement all the various surreal elements I wanted to put into it. In its story and script form I had a disparate selection of dream sequences and dance sequences and singing sequences and heavy doses of magic realism all this other shit I could indulge in because I was just writing for myself, right? But with an audience in mind I felt I had to jettison a lot of the outlandish elements of the stories and really focus on telling a few stories well. So that’s what I’ve tried to do and I hope it works out. It’s been a long process and a tough process and really, I’d love more time with it but yup, out of my hands. I’ve spent countless times annoying the actors and Colm with changes throughout the rehearsal process but I think I could just stay tinkering at something for fucking ages. Even up to the first week of our rehearsal period there was one story about this suicidal girl who hovered above the Canal Walk and I really liked elements of it but it was an awkward fit so I cut it. I think the reason I liked it was because it wasn’t intertwined into the story of a relationship. I guess that’s the one thing I don’t like about Smitten, that it’s too couple heavy. So instead of being about an assortment of 20 something’s, it becomes about an assortment of 20 something couples. But those couple stories do seem to commentate on choices you have to make in your 20’s so yeah, all the lovey dovey stuff might just have a point.

Despite constant nervousness and worry, I’ve really enjoyed the rehearsal period on this one and after our initial casting difficulties, it’s been really fun. It really is an awesome cast, they’re fucking brilliant, every one of them. Toppers they are. The words really flow out like rain onto a Kilkenny street and they make it sound a lot better than I could have hoped for. Our committee and crew have really worked hard on this one. Initially, after how well Trainspotting went we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to muster the energy for another play and that we’d end up fucking up our momentum by burning ourselves out. Well, if burn out is in the post, it hasn’t arrived yet. I think it’s that nervousness about topping Trainspotting and also having to live up to the plaudits we got for it that’s made us up our A game considerably. So myself, Niamh, Ken, Kevin, Ross, Paddy and Colm have spent ample time sitting in The Field drinking stupid amounts of tea and deliberating over every minute detail of this production. I’m very proud of the work we do and if this play bombs and goes up in a big heap of smoke, I’m happy choking on it in the knowledge that we’ve tried our best.

Also, we wouldn’t have been able to do this play without Barnstorm Theatre Company’s assistance. They’ve supported it all the way and given us their time, space and professionalism, all for the love of local theatre. And for that, they must be commended. We’d be at nothing without support and with them we’ve had it in bucket loads. If you haven’t had the pleasure of being in The Barn before, oh you wait and see. Plus Eddie has some killer set design plans in place. It’s going to be something else. And David Sheenan, aka Supernova Scotia, has contributed a fucking awesome score for the play which makes it seem really unique. So yeah, it’s gonna look and sound great at least!

I also have to state that Colm Sheenan, our director, has been fantastic. He’s really busted his ass on the play and has never given up on it. He’s always brimful of direction, suggestions and chair movements. And he’s always good enough to step back when the actors want to try something out or when I invariably fret and worry about a scene and keep thinking of changing stuff. I really hope the finished product does his work justice.

And it’s that finished work that goes onstage this Wednesday. Is it finished? Well, for now it is. But I always think I might go back to that book or that film script again. And for no other reason in my mind than there’s a lot of stories in Kilkenny and they’re well worth telling. It’s a hell of a place. Despite all the rain.

John Morton

Writer

Smitten

Smitten opens August 20^th in The Barn, Church Lane, Kilkenny. It runs until Saturday August 23^rd and tickets are 10EURO in Rollercoaster Records, Kieran Street.

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

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.