Phantasm finished on Saturday night to a packed house and a standing ovation. It was a lovely way to send the play home after a summer of performances. And finishing it on home turf for OUT For The Weekend was the cherry on top. We brought John Kennedy’s play to Solstice and Abhainn Rí, two fantastic arts festivals that we were very proud to be part of. The play itself shape shifted as it moved from different performance space to different performance space. There was a lot of transformation and once we hit that final show on Friday night, it had become this beautiful, funny little beast and the reception the actors got was absolutely earned.
Our own thanks must go to the wonderful thespians we put on the stage, Hazel Doyle and Colin O’Brien who busted their asses on the play over the past few months and who we just loved working with. And of course, the playwright John Kennedy who developed this play over the past year and showed again why he is one of the best young writers in the country.
Today, we tidied away the last of Phantasm and took a look at the battered wreck our headquarters are in after the summer. It really had the shit kicked out of it. There’s still some heads and blood and guts left over from Night Of The Living Dead and generally speaking, the place has seen better days. And how! So it definitely needed the tidying that was given to it! It sets us up nicely for the dust to settle and the next phase of this years work to begin.
For the next few months, we’re going back to the drawing board and kicking back into development on new shows for 2013 (and beyond). We’ve got some fantastic new ideas and there’s some really exciting projects in development. We’re looking forward to sharing them with you guys.
Watch this space.
Photos by Ross Costigan (“Davey gave it to me”)
