A Comedy in Two Acts
By John B. Keane     Directed By Christina Garrivan

The Play

Welcome to the parish of Ballast and to the rectory where Cannon Pratt, Father Brest and Father Loran are leading a quiet settled existence. Quiet, that is, until the currency goes decimal, their excellent house-keeper marries an American and moves to the US, and is replaced by Moll (Miss Mollie Kettle). Moll sides with the powers that be to the detriment of all others. “‘Tis hard Canon to come back to the plain black and white when one is used to the purple.” Moll feeds the Canon lavishly while insisting that curates can live on bread alone…and not much of that, she has cut the food budget in half. The church needs a new roof and the school is in dire need of repair. The cunning, manipulativeMoll has moved in and is taking advantage of the Cannon’s indifference to run the parish. To augment the budget we now have fund raising schemes including a weekly bingo. Father Brest dislikes bingo, and thinks it’s a disease; guess who’s in charge of bingo! A new choir has started and is a great hit with the parishioners, Father Loran who couldn’t carry a note in a bushel basket is in charge. But wait ’till you see what happens when the Bishop visits the parish.

This is another of John B. Kean’s comedies. There is much of the wit and humor for which John B. is famous. He often said he got his best material from the tales he heard across the bar in his pub, Moll is certainly among the best. Toss your cares to the wind and mosey over for a laugh-filled evening with Gaelic Park Players presentation of Moll.

The Cast