This article is from page 38 of the 2008-04-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
CLARE Youth Theatre will per- form their production of the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird’ in Glor this Neto) .e
Based on the book by Harper Lee, the story is set in 1930’s Alabama at the height of the American Depres- sion and addresses the themes of racism, poverty, honour and rites of passage as seen through the eyes of a young girl.
The cast is comprised of teenagers from across Clare and the globe, in- cluding Ennis, Ballyvaughan, Lahi- nch, Liberia and Bosnia.
The cast have been rehearsing since last September every Saturday in Glor and, together with their direc- tor Eleanor Feely, have adapted the book for performance, scripted ad- ditional scenes, designed the set and are creating live music for the per- formance.
This is the third production by CYT. The previous shows were “The Story of Eyam’ in 2006 and ‘Alien Nation’ by Max Heffler in 2007.
Earlier this year, another cast, com- prising members of the CYT, pre- sented a show entitled ‘Streetscape’, directed by Theresa Leahy, which took a jaundiced look at the received
concepts and attitudes towards men- BDO N LoTR
Director Eleanor Feely said the cast were keen to meet the challenge of bringing an established classic to SRR SX or
She said, “This year we decided wed like to have a go at a classic. I love books, obviously, and I knew that this particular book was on the school courses. I thought I’d like to have a shot at it and bring the young people with me on another journey. I thought we could adapt it ourselves.”
Eleanor added, “The whole book is about prejudice, about fear of differ- ence more than anything else. People
usually associate the book with be- ing about racism. | don’t think that is its main theme. I think it is probably fear of difference as seen through the eyes of the young.”
The Clare Youth Theatre is an ini- tiative of the County Arts Office and is dedicated to excellence in artistic endeavor through developmental cre- ativity. The company 1s also aligned to the National Association of Youth Drama (NAYD), which allows ac- cess to national and international theatre events and practitioners.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ runs in Glor on April 10 and 11 at 8pm. Informa- tion and tickets from Glor box office.