This article is from page 6 of the 2011-03-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
GORT’S Wild Swan Theatre Company are preparing to take to the stage in San Francisco tonight for the first of two sell out performances of their hit production of ‘A wake in the west’.
The group, formed in 1996, have been invited to perform at the 650seater Irish Cultural Centre in San Francisco as part of the city’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Actor Donal Connolly said the group are delighted to be bringing their show Stateside. “It’s great really, but we are a bit bemused by its success,” he said.
Written by Michael Joe Ginelly, ‘A wake in the west’ is set during the wake of Tom Healy who has drank himself to the grave and now wishes his grave to be a watery one by requesting cremation and the scattering of his ashes at sea, the comedy begins when a neighbour decides that Tom is not entitled to take it all with him.
“It is a hilarious comedy about a corpse laid out in the opening scene and the different people that come in and what they do to the corpse,” explained director Imelda Counihan when the play came to Ennis last August.
She continued, “You have an elderly women and her dentures are illfitting so she wonders did the corpse have a spare set. And they haven’t taken them out. They discover that the body is going to be cremated. So she goes investigating and manages to take out the teeth”.
“It’s mad, it’s mad comedy. As a group, they’ve done a great show with it. It was great fun. Donal (Connolly) plays the part of the corpse and of any of the parts to play that are by far and away the most difficult cause he has to lie there and pretend he is dead. They have to take the teeth out. They stuff Donal’s face up with cake. One of the women ties his face up with the tights to keep his mouth closed because rigormortis has set in. He has to lie through it all. He does and absolutely famous job,” Imelda said.
There is a large cast which includes some of the Wild Swan’s most experienced names; Kevin Glynn, Donal Connolly, Jimmy Hannigan, Helen Leech, Kate Sherry, Margaret Divilly, Marion Cahill Collins, Rose Finnegan, Max Lee and Jim Earley.