This article is from page 30 of the 2007-03-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
RETURNING by very popular de- mand, the Corofin Drama Society will stage one final production of the Rape of the Belt this Saturday evening before taking the play on the Festival Circuit.
Such was the reaction to the three successful performances of the Benn W Levy comedy last month that the eroup have decided to allow local audiences one last look before they loyun trees iOemBelomKey-lem
“It is based on the ancient Greek story of Hercules and and his 12 la- bours. His ninth task was to steal the belt of the Amazons,’ said director Marianna Shonemann. The Amazons
are always portrayed as being fierce and harsh women but when he meets them he finds them very charming.
‘This makes it much harder for him to fulfill him tasks and lead to a lot of the comedy in the play.”
Following the Corofin date, the group face a busy schedule of the fes- tival circuit with five performances in the month of March.
First up 1s Doonbeg March 12 be- fore performances in Shercock and Cootehill in Cavan on March 20 and 21.
Next up is a return to Clare to take part in the Scariff Festival on March 23 before rounding off the tour in Charleville, County Cork on March oF
“We try to bring a three act play on the circuit each year,’ continued Marianna. “It’s great to get the play out to a wider audience and to al- low more people to come and see it. There is also a lot that we can learn JUuO)ooMoyUba-an steam LMmO em se low Ker-\em-TICMolor ing how other groups do it.
‘There are a number of people who are getting involved in a play for the first time with this production. Peo- ple like PJ Cox, his sister Sandra and Majella Dooley this is their first production and they have been great. We have also paid special attention to the costumes and set and people have been commenting on how good they are.”
Written in the late 1950’s, The Rape
of the Belt is an entertaining comedy based in Ancient Greece. It tells the tale of Hercules’ ninth labour where he has to take the ceremonial royal belt from the Queen of the Ama- ZONS.
The Amazons have a perfect king- dom, full of peacefully creative women, where the men (only a hand- ful) are kept apart as slaves, and used solely for breeding. All the while the Gods Zeus and Hera watch on which interest.