1. struck, as with a hard blow.
2. grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted.
3. very much in love.
Smitten by John Morton was first performed in The Barn, Church Lane, Kilkenny from 20th – 23rd August 2008 in a production directed by Colm Sheenan.
“Bronagh is pregnant with Dave’s child, he’s got a bad alcohol problem and she’s worried. Her friend Cat is also worried. She finally broke up with Tony and she’s moved onto a new fella, Niall, who oozes charm…or is it charm? Her brother Mark is wise like an owl and he reckons that she and Tony need a clean break. Tony has got with Ailbe to make Cat jealous, she sounds like a robot but still, it’ll do. Ailbe used to go out with Kevin but now he’s going to New Zealand. Claire just came back from South America with Kevin’s heart weighing down her hand luggage. Worrying is always weighing Stevey down, and now that he thinks he might have testicular cancer his worrying just got worse. It was the worrying that caused Sinead to dump him spectacularly. She’s just back in town and she does not want casual sex, no thanks. Tommy can’t have casual sex. His dick has been feeling limp, like himself really. He needs a spark. Apparently Daffney Molloy has spark, Tommy has never met her but he’s heard the stories… “
Smitten depicts a tragicomic series of loosely interlinked stories set in Kilkenny City over a succession of rainy summer nights.The characters at the core of Smitten are all young adults trying to find their bearings in life. 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. Career choices. Doomed Relationships. Sock Puppets. Mystery girls. Musicals. How to dance to Bruce Springsteen. And rain. Lots of rain. Smitten plays as a theatrical collage, with intertwining stories and varying forms of narrative giving life to the comic and often tragic stories that litter the rainy streets of Kilkenny City.
The writer, John Morton, said this about the play:
“There’s never really been a piece of theatre based in Kilkenny City before and we thought it would be good to get some Kilkenny set stories on the stage. It’s not a realistic interpretation of Kilkenny, it’s very much a fantastical one… albeit with lots of real rain. Lots of rain. But it’s the romantic Kilkenny 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 small stories happen here 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 attempt something that depicted Kilkenny in the theatre.”
Smitten was produced with the support of Barnstorm Theatre Company.
For information on the performance rights for Smitten please contact info@devioustheatre.com
