A Two Act Drama
By John B. Keane     Directed By Kristen Dakewicz

The Play

The Field is possibly John B. Keane’s best known play, and the character “Bull” McCabe the most admired by any afficionado of Mr Keane’s literary works. This powerful play explores the fascination and the dedication the Irish had for the land and deals with the problems of a local farmer (the “Bull”) who has been renting a field from a widow woman Maggie Butler for over five years and now Maggie is selling The Field at public auction. After all his hard work the “Bull” has turned The Field into a green pasture where his cattle graze and thru which he has access to water. He feels he has a sweat equity in The Field and hatches a plot to buy it for a fair price as determined by him and his son Tadhg.

Another interested party arrives to buy The Field and build a concrete block factory on it. The “Bull” will not allow this to happen “to his field” and so he hatches a plan to prevent it, however, when the plan goes awfully wrong with tragic consequences, watch how the local peasants collude in a conspiracy of silence against the church and the law. The local police and the clergy try to resolve the situation, but to no avail. The Bishop preaches a sermon on Sunday at mass and the sergeant and the priest question the local people, but, the silence is deafening. As we watch the play unfold it brings home to many of us how hardships and decisions of the past affect the future and the resulting consequences not only for the “Bull” and his family , but for the entire village.

The Cast

A Two Act Comedy
By Joyce Minford     Directed By Larry Coughlin

The Cast

A Contemporary Drama In Two Acts
By Jim Nolan     Directed By Maria Michaels

The Play

Sylvester Tansey, owner of The Salvage Shop, is a strict task-master who demands fierce loyalty from family, friends and the small band he conducts in the seaside town of Garis.Now in his twilight years, the opera buff and aging meastro is left with his unfulfilled dreams. His disappointment focuses on the bitter memory of his band failing to win an important state-wide musical competition. “Sylvie” blames the loss on his son, Eddie, who has recently moved back in to care for his father. An accomplished euphonium player, Eddie, has long since left the band. His days are spent working in The Salvage Shop, and juggling his time between his head-strong teenage daughter Katie, and his understanding girlfriend, Rita.

Now a rebellion is brewing in the small band in Garris. Time has come for the maestro to pass on his baton. As with generations before, it should rightfully go to his son Eddie. However Sylvie has a long memory and the sting of betrayal still smarts after all these years. In a cruel twist Eddie is thrown into his own private hell, when his daughter arrives home with unexpected news. This triggers a reaction that sends them on a journey that leads to a collision course with a hated enemy. Jim Nolan’s powerful play of family conflict will make you laugh, cry and cheer.

**Contains strong language**

The Cast

A Two Act Comedy
By Bernard Farrell     Directed By Larry Coughlin

The Play

This is a two-act comedy set in the kitchen of Alice’s home in Ireland. In Act One we celebrate Alice’s seventieth birthday and in Act Two we celebrate her seventy-first. See what changes, if any, a year can make! Due to a tragic accident, Alice was widowed at an early age and left to raise a son, Barry, and a daughter Barbara, on her own. Barbara now lives in San Francisco with her husband Cormac and Barry lives in England with his new girlfriend, Sandy, while Alice lives alone except for the company of Jimmy Heffernan her neighbor for many years. Her children return each year to “celebrate” her birthday and present Alice with plans to place her in an “old peoples” home, however, this is Alice’s greatest nightmare and they have not counted on her determination
not to go through with their scheme. Bernard Farrell has given us an excellent play with lots of laughs and one that all the Alices of this world can certainly relate to.

The Cast

By Brendan O’Carroll     Directed By Bill Hurley

The Play

The Course is a play that highlights the humor and pathos routine in everyday life. We have six would be great insurance salesmen and one tired instructor. The instructor must find a way to motivate himself and his charges while the charges seem to frustrate his every move. In the end each has learned a great deal from the whole experience.

The Cast

A Play in Two Acts
By Michael Carey     Directed By Puggy Dunleavey

The Play

This is a contemporary play set in the West of Ireland. It is the story of two brothers who havn’t spoken to each other for more than 40 years,the story of a failed marriage for one and of his wife who left for the U.S.A. and gave birth to her son in New York and never as long as she lived returned to Ireland but her son did and lived and worked there on the the farm for 10 years. The other brother likes to spend his days fishing and is cared for by a local woman who is a busy-body but has his best interests at heart and does the housekeeping for him.

Thy Will Be Done is billed as a drama but is actually a comedy with many funny situations and Carey has given it many witty lines. You will relate to this play if you’ve spent much time in Ireland and you’ll certainly recall some characters just like the ones in the play and leave the theatre remembering the Ireland you once knew.

The Cast

A Three Act Comedy
By Louis D’Alton     Directed By Jim Kearney

The Play

The play was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in February 1947.

The play takes place in the living room of the Murnaghan family in the Midlands. We meet Matty Murnaghan, his wife Bessie and daughters Sally and Norah also sons Jack, Derry and Peter. The family are having financial trouble with local credit all but cut off when a newspaper runs a story of a local emigrant who leaves a fortune in America and local rumor has it that the Murnaghan family may be heirs to that fortune. This rumor changes everything for the family and leads us thru their new-found life style. The “shenanagins” and the conniving that go on will keep you entertained throughout the performance. The play is well written with many funny lines and situations.

The Cast

By John B. Keane        Directed By Josephine Craven

The Play

The “Chastitute” is a new word introduced by John B. Keane into the English language, to describe a man who has never had sex with a woman. Such a man is John Bosco McLaine, a middle-aged, bachelor farmer, whose most fervent wish in life is to acquire a wife. “It is essentially the story of human loneliness and the great hunger for human companionship” writes the playwright. Swinging from hilarious to tragic, audiences will relish the obvious comedy, yet, be moved by the unbearable solitude of a life without love. “The Chastitute” is the second play the Gaelic Park Players have performed by Kerry playwright John B. Keane. His drama, “The Year of the Hiker” was performed by the group in 1997.

Gaelic Park Players veteran member, Josephine Craven, directs the play. “The Chastitute” marks the second Gaelic Park Players’ full-length production Craven has directed. She won praise for her direction of Keane’s “The Year of the Hiker,” which took home the “John B. Keane Spirit of Ireland” award at the Acting Irish International Theatre Festival, in Milwaukee in 1997.

“The Chastitute,” with 24 actors playing 28 separate roles has the largest cast of any play performed at Gaelic Park to date. The cast includes many of the group’s regular actors/actresses, along with numerous new “faces”.

The Cast

The Cast

Author: Michael Carey
Director: Carol Kearney