LOVE IN LOCKDOWN LIVE!!

I feel I should be shouting that title, like a commentator on Sky Sports before a match.   Love in Lockdown… Live!!!

Yes, it has been a while since I added to this blog, so with the live performance of Love in Lockdown which features my own play “Power Of Love” due to be performed at the Home Rule Club in Kilkenny from the 5th to the 7th May (8pm), what better time to throw a few words together and ask for your support.  The live performance has been a long time in the planning, but it is finally almost upon us.  Tickets are available at Eventbrite Love in Lockdown: LIVE Tickets, Thu 5 May 2022 at 20:00 | Eventbrite  Get your tickets early. You won’t be sorry. It will be one of four plays on the night.

The live version has a new director in Dubliner, Ger Blanch who has previously worked with Fishamble.  Paul McManus from Carlow Little Theatre reprises his role as Sammy. He is joined by another Carlow Little Theatre actor Michelle Phelan, both fresh from performances in Juno and The Paycock. Everyone is really buzzing and again huge thanks to Philip Hardy and Barnstorm Theatre Arts for the production. They have been amazing.

I would also like to thank KATS theatre group who recently did a reading of another of my plays called the “The Sub” at John Cleeres in Kilkenny as part of their Scriptease program.  The play is based around the other favourite pastime of my life, the GAA and tells the story of a match from the perspective of one of the substitutes.  Hopefully, this play too can be brought to life on the stage sometime down the road. Massive thanks to Delia Lowery, Hugh Keenan and all those involved in the reading from KATS.

With the lockdowns finished (for now at least) it’s really a busy time with the arts, the GAA and making sure I relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life that I did enjoy during lockdowns.  Time has become challenging again, but I am determined to control as much as possible and take those breaks away to savour life and the world. I hope you are too.

POWER OF LOVE

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Will lockdowns finally end? Everyone has tried to find ways to get through these challenging times.  I have returned to writing fiction in various forms and more comprehensively. The end product of one such project will be streamed live this Thursday 29th April at 7:30pm on Zoom.  (Details at the end of this blog)

I have been lucky that a short play of mine has been produced by the Kilkenny based Barnstorm Theatre Company.  The theme is “Love In Lockdown” and my play is called “Power of Love”.  It is a project that started in the latter quarter of 2020 and the approximately 15-minute duologue is part of ten similarly selected and diverse writings to be performed. The first five of which were streamed in March. They had originally been planned to be performed on St. Valentines week.  Unfortunately, restrictions played havoc with that plan.

Filming took place on Saturday and went very well considering all but one rehearsal took place over Zoom/Teams and it is a single camera to give a theatre feel. It’s a wonderful idea to bring theatre to people given that people cannot go to the theatre. So, if you are looking for something novel to pass the lockdown time, please use the link to the live streaming. It will also be available on the Barnstorm Theatre Company YouTube channel afterwards if you miss the live performance on Zoom. There are also plans to broadcast on radio and do live performances when restrictions lift. Hopefully you will enjoy it and I look forward to your reactions and reviews on here afterwards.

I would like to thank the Barnstorm Theatre Company for the opportunity. No script is complete until it has been interpreted in real life. It has been a very gratifying experience.  Special thanks to Philip Hardy, Cara Doherty and Maeve Ingoldsby for their invaluable advice and experience during the script writing phase. A lot has been learned.  I would like to thank Trish Brennan of the Barn Owl Players who directed it brilliantly and maintained the integrity of the story I was telling whilst also making it an entertaining piece of theatre.  Also, thanks to two brilliant Carlow based actors, Carrie Doran and Paul McManus who brought the characters to life with great understanding and enthusiasm whilst overcoming the challenges of the new way of doing things.

I am genuinely excited about this and look forward to audience reaction, good or bad. I describe it as a romantic comedy with a dark side, but it could be a dark comedy with a romantic side. It’s open to interpretation.  The story is about Ella and Sammy who are two Gardai based in Kilkenny that have history. However, time is running out for Ella and things need to be said. Their long-time attraction to each other has been blighted by obstacles and fears of social etiquette, loyalty and age difference. Dramatic and potentially catastrophic circumstances put them together in a situation where only the truth matters. Are they literally sitting on a timebomb that will destroy their lives forever or will there be enough time to connect?

Check out Barnstorm Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/barnstormtheatrecompany/posts/405824590759224

Love in Lockdown 2
Time: Apr 29, 2021 07:30 PM Dublin
ZOOM LINK.
Meeting ID: 826 8839 0764
Passcode: 594503

 

DREAMS AND AMBITIONS HAVE NO LIMIT

What is the point? I have published my website. I have started my blogs where I have introduced a number of aspects of my persona. I have linked my work to social media. I have printed my business cards. Now as the sun shines gloriously like the summers of old, particularly the long hot summer of 1976, (What a summer memory of hay bales, sunburn and 4 goals in an under-14 hurling championship match for Windgap versus Mullinavat and still we ended up losing!)  I wonder what the point is. What am I trying to promote?

My imagination has always been one of my most powerful talents. I love the process in my head of imagining and visualising events. Some are realistic, some are practical and some are as farfetched as you will get. Mostly, I become the personality of the hero, which can sit very awkward, because real heroes are modest and humble.  These are traits which I believe are important, but if you want to promote talents such as mine, writing and coaching, you have to have that element of belief and confidence in what you are doing and these characteristics are contradictory to modest and humble.  The stories develop in my head and the next step is to develop it into the written word. To be honest, I don’t think my written word ever does the story in my head justice, but that is the zenith to aim for, as a writer.  For a long time those stories were stored for me alone. As the power of memory will dwindle with old age, I’m sure they will be a helpful aid for recollection.

In Kilkenny GAA, terms, the stars who make it to the top of the sport of hurling always speak about leaving the jersey in a better place than when they got it.  Life should be the same.  When we depart, we need to leave the small area of earth we inhabited in a better place. There has to be some sort of a legacy, no matter how small. I’d like part of mine to be my stories.  I’d like my stories to turn into publications, solid old fashioned bound books, with pictures, titles and synopsis on the cover.  I’d really like them to turn into visual media such as films so that they are nearer to the story I feel in my head. In my head, my stories are like life, lots of turmoil, but also lots of hope and good will. Overall the process of the story in my head is always uplifting even when things are not good, because I am the God of my world and I can make it better or worse for individuals in my inner universe.  That glowing feeling of the story, I would like to think can be a positive consequence for those who get the opportunity to read, see or feel the stories.  I believe that publication in book or film of my stories can contribute to the small legacy that I hope and plan to leave behind in my quest to contribute to leaving a better world after me. That is the point!

Somewhere in the world there is a publisher, a screen writer or a producer who wants to leave their own small legacy to this world. Somewhere and sometime that individual or individuals will cross my path and find my work and together we will collaborate on delivering my stories to the greater audience. To find my knight in shining armour, I need the small number of people who currently browse and like the content of this website to help me get my profile out there. He or she will never find me hidden in the bottom file of the Internet.  I ask YOU to do what you can to promote this website, but only if you like the content. For me this is certainly not about money, this is about leaving something of more value than money as part of my small legacy to the world, stories.

I welcome your advice on how best for example I could use Social Media to promote my works without coming across as too narcissistic. Please feel free to submit your advice on the blog comment or on my writers Facebook page. I would love to hear from the members of my now small community. What should I be doing? Who should I be contacting? What do you think of particular stories? What do you like? What don’t you like? What makes you cringe? What would make my stories, plays or novels better? What topics would you like on this blog?  Do you know a publisher, screenwriter or producer that you could share my website with?  Please do. I will forever appreciate it.

“Dreams and Ambitions Have No Limit”