Of Mice And Men
Written by John Steinbeck
Directed by Kate Canning
Performed in dlr Mill Theatre , Dundrum, Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 February 2018
The cast and crew on stage at the dlr Mill Theatre.
The play, ‘Of Mice and Men’, began as a short novel of the same name, published in 1937. It is set in the United States at the time of the Great Depression, which followed the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The work was an experimental form in which Steinbeck set out to explore human suffering in general and the hardships faced by migrant workers in particular.
In a letter to a friend, the writer said, "I think I would like to write the story of this whole valley, of all the little towns and all the farms and the ranches in the wilder hills. I can see how I would like to do it so that it would be the valley of the world.” That valley is the Salinas Valley in California, where he grew up.
Steinbeck’s family was relatively well-off, but he was aware of what the migrant workers had to deal with in the area not far from his home. He travelled through the small valleys, saw how the workers lived and heard first-hand many of their stories.
The play tells the tale of two great friends and their struggle to live the American dream. George and Lennie have been travelling together from ranch to ranch for years, working hard to make ends meet and save enough for a place of their own.
(l-r) David Walsh (Lennie) and Declan O'Loughlin (George)Lennie and George are polar opposites: George is intelligent, quick and not very tall, while Lennie is slow-minded, childlike, and big. Though they are different, they care deeply about each other.
They have been dreaming for years to save enough for a little land of their own, and when they are both hired to a new job they believe that they may finally achieve their goal. But trouble begins to brew when one of the bosses' wife becomes too interested in the infatuated Lennie.
It has been described as 'a beautiful tragedy'; and while 'Of Mice and Men' has become a staple of American theatre, it has also remained very popular with audiences far from its Californian valley.
‘Little Mouse, you’re not alone,
Provin’ foresight’s overblown:
For the best laid plans of mice and men
Come to nothin’ now and then,
And they leave us only grief and pain,
When they promise sun not rain!’
The verse created as part of the sound design for this production, and sung by Curley’s Wife, was adapted from the Robert Burns poem 'To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough', which inspired the title of the play.
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George Milton Lennie Small Candy The Boss Curley Curley's Wife Slim Carlson Whit Crooks Candy's Dog |
Declan O'Loughlin David Walsh Sean Murphy Brendan Dunne Declan Rudden Remy Naidoo Will Flannagan Barry O'Connor Mark O'Leary Derek Ugochukwu Mac |
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Director Producer Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Backstage Crew Make-up Costume Design Set Designer Set Construction Lighting Designer Sound Designer Sound Operator Graphic Design and Programme PR & Marketing Transport Front of House |
Kate Canning Joanne Keane Fiona Walsh Una Twyford Aengus Cooke, Cian Lucas, Michael Carthy, Hannah Crowley and Ross Smith Teresa Dempsey Dympna Murray Gerard Bourke Tom Ronayne, and Robert Coventry Kris Mooney Declan Brennan Aoife Braiden Declan Brennan Aoibhinn Finnegan Patrick Hand Muriel Caslin O’Hagan, Jean Monahan, Mary Ryan, Eimear Smyth, Mark Coen and Doris Cullen |
A PDF copy of the programme for 'Of Mice And Men' is available here.
(l-r) Will Flanagan (Slim), Declan Rudden (Curley), Mark O'Leary (Whit) and Sean Murphy (Candy)
The set was designed by Gerard Bourke and constructed by Tom Ronayne and Robert Coventry.