Original Imitations

Play #1 Afterplay
Written by Brian Friel
Directed by Pat O'Grady

Play #2 Desire Desire Desire
Written by Christopher Durang
Directed by Claire O'Donovan


Performed in:
Bewley's Café Theatre, Dublin - Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 October 2012
The Mill Theatre, Dundrum - Friday 19 and Saturday 20 October 2012

Two great plays ...

'Afterplay', written by Brian Friel and directed by Pat O'Grady, is set in a run down café in Moscow sometime around 1920. The man last appeared in Chekhov's Three Sisters while the woman appeared in 'Uncle Vanya'. They have never met before, as they appeared in different plays, but Friel has speculated on what might have happened if they did meet 20 years on from their respective roles in these two plays. Afterplay is about these two fictional characters, which were created by Chekhov, meeting as two fictional characters created by Friel - simple and simply wonderful.

'Desire Desire Desire', written by Christopher Durang and directed by Claire O'Donovan, is a parody of several Tennessee Williams plays, but is mainly influenced by A Streetcar Named Desire made famous by the 1951 Elia Kazan film starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in the roles of Blanch Dubois and Stanley Kowalski. Durang's parody revisits 'Blanche' and 'Stanley' in the dingy, steamy New Orleans apartment. As some other Williams' characters intrude on the scene, an array of interesting exchanges ensue!

Two great playwrights, inspired by two more ...

Considered to be one of the greatest living playwrights, Brian Friel, who was born in 1929, has been referred to as the Irish Chekhov. His more than thirty plays, written over six decades, have been produced regularly at home and on the international stage.

Anton Chekhov, Friel's inspiration for Afterplay, was not only a playwright, but also one of the masters of the modern short story, who qualified as a medical doctor before turning his considerable to the arts. He turned away from the theatre after his play 'The Seagull' was very badly received in 1896. However, the play enjoyed great success two years later when it was produced by Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre. That group went on to bring Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya', 'Three Sisters' and 'The Cherry Orchard' to the stage. The plays represented a very different approach to playwrighting as they replaced the 'action' that audiences were accustomed to with what has been described as a 'theatre of mood'.

Born in 1949, twenty years after Friel, Christopher Durang is an American playwright who is known for works of comedy that often deal with topical issues, sometimes from an outrageous point of view. He is also known as a performer, actor and singer, who has appeared off-Broadway and in the cinema. Desire Desire Desire was inspired by the work of Thomas Lanier 'Tennessee' Williams III, many of whose plays are regarded as classics of the American stage, and some of which won theatrical accolades such as the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

One great evening at the theatre ...

These two great short plays were presented together in Bewleys Café Theatre on 16 and 17 October 2012 on Grafton Street in the centre of Dublin city.

Later that week, on 19 and 20 October 2012, the production moved to the Mill Theatre in Dundrum Town Centre for two more performances in the studio space at the theatre.

 

 

'Afterplay'

Sonya Andrey   Director

Mary Ryan Martin Brennan   Pat O'Grady

'Desire Desire Desire'

Blanche Dubois Stanley Kowalski Young Man Big Daddy Stella Maggie 1 Maggie 2 Cora   Director

Cáitlín Higgins Ní Chinnéide Ronan Horgan Sean Daly Francis Cahill Fiona Walsh Sarah Joyce Aisling Fitzgerald Claire O'Donovan   Claire O'Donovan

Backstage

Costumes Staging Graphic Design and Photography

Dympna Murray Patrick Hand Declan Brennan

 

Picture Gallery

Photographs from productions are stored on the SmugMug.com site. The Balally Players SmugMug account allows for the viewing and downloading of images at various sizes if high resolution pictures have been uploaded. The slideshow can be run and stopped by clicking on the play (>) and pause (¦¦) icons. You can move forward and back by clicking on the right or left of the image. To go to the gallery of these images stored in the Balally Players pages of the SmugMug site visit www.balally.smugmug.com to see all of the available galleries of images and download copies in a range of different sizes.

 

 

 

Pictures taken at a performance on Saturday 20 October 2012

The full set of pictures taken during the performance are in the slideshow above, just below the cast and crew credits. Here's a small selection of the pictures taken. To view and/or download any of the pictures, visit www.balally.smugmug.com to see the '2012 - Original Imitations' gallery and all of the available collections of images.