Exploring the darker side of rural life

TACKLING some of the darker aspects of life in rural Ireland in a comic way, Mick Donnellan’s Sunday Morning Coming Down will be performed in Glór on June 11.
It is Mick’s first play and he is also directing it, having established his own company, Truman Town Theatre, to bring it to the stage.
The play initially caught the eye of Druid and although a reading of it was staged in Galway in 2009, with the economy in poor shape it was decided not to bring it to the stage.
It has now sold out on numerous occasions and is being brought to a number of venues around the country.
“It’s doing mighty, we’re going very well at the moment,” says Mick of the play.
The emigrant experience is something that has often been explored in Irish theatre and drama and Sunday Morning Coming Down focuses on the McGuire family and their struggles: Joe, father and alcoholic, his long-suffering wife Theresa and their two sons Chris, a slaughterhouse worker who delights in his own often dangerous drinking exploits and John, who has returned home to Ballinrobe  for a visit. John’s trip from Italy proves the catalyst for the play’s action.
“It’s about one brother who went away and the other is working in an abattoir. A lot of it is about the brothers, the guy who stayed at home is telling the other one to get out again. Before he went away he had a girlfriend and she wants him to stay around. His father is also around and he’s causing a lot of trouble. Everything is going well with the girlfriend but there are other problems and there’s a bit of domestic fisticuffs,” says Mick.
Described by Irish Theatre Magazine as “a refreshing blast of riveting realism” the play is striking a chord with audiences who can recognise the characters and the themes, he feels.
“My own family would have been quite involved in the pub trade and you can pick up material from that. The main thing is that people have said that it strikes a chord with them, that the characters remind them of their father, or uncle or cousin or someone. There are themes like alcoholism and emigration and I think it’s a bit like The Field in that there’s that kind of aggression there, but it’s mostly a comedy.”
The play manages to be both poignant and humourous, and ultimately reveals much about every member of the McGuire family, some of which we may wish to turn our eyes from.
The Clare connections go further than an appearance at Glór however and North Clare actor Theresa Leahy will be appearing in the play.
Having moved to Ballyvaughan 10 years ago, Theresa joined the Burren Players and played Miss Dee in their successful production of JB Keane’s Sharon’s Grave. With Gerard Howard she set up the theatre company StoneMad Productions and had standing ovations at Glór for its inaugural production of Kissing Sid James by Robert Farquar. Theresa has also facilitated and directed shows for Clare Youth Theatre.
Sunday Morning Coming Down will be performed on Saturday, June 11.  For details check Glór box office on 065 6843103/www.glor.ie.