The haunting "Portia Coughlan" returns

The progressive Rail Theatre Company return to the boards when they take to the stage in the Mullingar Arts Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 29 and 30 with 'Portia Coughlan' by Marina Carr.The play ran to great critical acclaim earlier in the year and audiences have been demanding its return since. This group have been raising the bar in local theatre circle in the last number of years with their professional approach and ethos and have firmly established Mullingar on the national theatre map so much so that they were invited back to this year's Electric Picnic event and received rave reviews for their production of Willie Russell's Stags and Hens.Portia Coughlan, written by Marina Carr is a horse of a different colour so to speak and its message and raison d'être had Mullingar audiences enthralled when it was performed in May of this year. Dealing with very adult themes it explores the psyche and makeup of the human mind and indeed the ramifications of life in a small rural town. Writer Marina Carr is an Offaly native and Rail have already performed her play The Mai and are treading over similar ground so to speak with this production. Carr's work is thought provoking and intense and is certainly not for the faint hearted so those of you with a nervous disposition, then this is not for you, but for those who like theatre to be challenging as well as entertaining then this play will certainly be a treat.The plays eponymous character Portia (played by Niamh O'Shea) is a confused and haunted soul who is struggling to make the strands of her varied and chequered life fit into place. The death of her brother, her indignation to her husband Raphael (John 'Banjo' Quinn), her extra marital dalliances with Damus Hallion (Gary Nolan) and Fintan Goolan (Neil Brady) and her eventual breakdown are just avid viewing and thoroughly enrapturing.Her Mother Marianne (Mary Hughes) and Father Sly (Christy Cole), Grandmother Blaize (Veronica McDonagh) and her only real friend Stacia Doyle (Maedhbh Hughes) try to find some solution to her myriad of problems and emotions but time and again Portia is drawn to the memory of her dead brother Gabriel (Billy Gilleran), and the Belmont Valley which haunts her very soul.The content is bleak and dark but there is some slight relief in the shape of her Aunt Maggie May (Gillian Flynn) and Maggie's husband Senchil (Paul Doolin) but anybody coming to watch a laughter fest will be sorely disappointed. However the play is true to life, thought provoking and totally enthralling and will have the audiences gripped emotionally and visually throughout.As can be seen this is a stellar cast that have vast experience and even they are being pushed to the boundaries of their abilities by director Sean Lynch and Assistant Director Angela Lynch and the whole project is proving to be a voyage of discovery for everyone involved which is translating into a mesmerising and memorable piece of theatre and one certainly not to be missed.Tickets are available for Tuesday and Wednesday, September 29 and 30 from the Arts Centre box office on 044 9347777, with Tuesday's performance a charity night in aid of the LARCC Cancer Care Centre.