‘Engrossing’, ‘affecting’, ‘frightening’ and ‘brilliant’ were some of the adjectives which adjudicators on the festival circuit used to describe Ballyduff’s interpretation of Sam Shepard’s ‘Curse of the Starving Class’ which qualified forcefully for the All-Ireland finals in Athlone. The play now takes its pre All-Ireland run in Ballyduff on Saturday 26th, Sunday 27th and Tuesday, 29th April.

Three festival wins, a multitude of technical, production and performance awards and audiences enthralled by this wonderful piece of modern American drama are what the festival circuit brought. Now, hopefully, Athlone and the All-Ireland will bring further hope of success for the West Waterford group at Ireland’s theatrical pinnacle.

The play is set on a farmstead in California, a place left behind by modernity on the one hand and just about to be gobbled up by it on the other. It is a play about greed, defeat and a family’s inability to cope with its past or with itself. Relationships are entangled, confused and furious. The characters are driven primarily by the need to survive and turn mainly into themselves in the pursuit of that survival. Love is a scarce commodity.

It is not the prettiest of plays but it is sincere, hard-hitting and so, so representative of not just modern America but even the Ireland of greed and corruption which we are just struggling to drag ourselves away from.

Directed by Geraldine Canning, it features Valerie O’Leary, Richie Walsh, Courtney Canning and Aoife Walsh in the lead parts and also has a host of other very experienced cast members. This is an enthralling tale and not one to be missed.

The Saturday night performance has a particular poignancy as it is a fund-raising night in support of the Deirdre O’Reilly fund. Deirdre is a member of Kilmeen Drama Group and a lass filled with energy and verve and who always sees the glass of life as never other than fully full. Deirdre has had some recent bad health luck and this evening’s performance is intended to show Ballyduff’s support for this wonderful human. For further information on this, you may wish to visit www.friendsofdeirdreoreilly.org. Booking for all the shows is on (058) 60456.