Mullingar group take ‘Lonesome West' on theatre circuit

For the first time in decades, a local drama group will compete in the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland (ADCI) full-length drama circuit.

Tuesday night marked the opening night of Mullingar Theatre Lab’s ‘The Lonesome West’ in The Greville Arms Hotel, running for five nights until Saturday January 26.

The cast of four will then take one third of Martin McDonagh’s Connemara trilogy on the road to eight theatre festivals, from Ballyshannon to New Ross, in March.

Alan Conroy returns to the stage as one half of arguing brothers Coleman and Valene, having handed over director duty to Dan E Hyland from Laois.

“We are going to be busy, it’s the first time in over 30 years a Mullingar group has participated in the circuit. But anything worth doing is always hard,” says Alan, who last trod the boards 10 years ago in Rail Theatre’s production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

“The only other appearance I made was Gomez in The Addams Family musical for Mullingar Charity Variety Group.

“We’ve been rehearsing on a full set in a warehouse in Kilbeggan for the last two months, in the cold and the damp. We rehearse three times a week. We want to do Mullingar proud. We want to do well in the competition. Ultimately we want to raise our standards, and thereby raise the standards of acting in Mullingar.”

The ADCI circuit is highly competitive, and a lot of well known Irish actors cut their teeth there - Cillian Murphy to name one. 

“It is the pinnacle of Irish amateur drama, the highest league,” said Alan. “Maybe we’re lucky enough to be naive, not knowing what we’re facing.

But getting ourselves into the competition in the first place will raise our standards. Our goal is to learn, and we will learn a lot, even if it’s by osmosis,” he says.

Trilogy
Martin McDonagh’s Connemara trilogy (The Beauty Queen of Leenane; A Skull in Connemara; and The Lonesome West) depicts the shocking and murderous goings-on in the Western Ireland town of Leenane.

McDonagh’s work also includes last year’s critically acclaimed hit screenplay, two-times Oscar nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won two Golden Globes and three BAFTAs. And many will remember his 2009 black comedy In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

Both are testament to McDonagh’s success and his love of darkly comic tales. The Lonesome West is no different.

It features the persistently arguing brothers Coleman (Conroy) and Valene (Steve Ennis), whose father has just died in a shotgun ‘accident’. Valene is only interested in his religious ornaments, and drinking poitín. Coleman is only interested in eating, and attends funerals to collect free sausage rolls and vol-au-vents. Only Fr Welsh (PJ McCann), the alcoholic parish priest, attempts to fix their relationship, but his advice mostly goes unheard. Girleen (Dawn Flynn) is the poitín pedlar who is infatuated with Fr Welsh.

So what can the audience expect? Alan says it is a high energy couple of hours on stage, with plenty of twists and turns, and leaves the actors exhausted and the audience satisfied.

• The Lonesome West, Greville Arms Hotel, January 22-26, 8pm. Tickets €15 from hotel reception and on 044 9348564.