Kilmeen Drama Group is amongst the leading amateur drama groups in Ireland having won the highly coveted All-Ireland title on 4 occasions. Not alone has Kilmeen Drama Group won numerous awards at All-Ireland level, but also on the international stage. It is the only Drama Group in Ireland to have captured the coveted RTE All-Ireland finals three years in a row from 2011 to 2013.
The Weir, written by Conor McPherson, which was one of those All-Ireland winning shows, is the play that director, Nora Scannell, has chosen as being ideal to bring to The Everyman to entertain Kilmeen’s large following in the wider Cork area.
Nora, who acted in the All-Ireland winning production, says she is passionate about the play and with her years of experience directing she is delighted to be taking this iconic play to The Everyman, for one night only, on Tuesday, 7th October.
Kilmeen plays have been packing The Everyman for decades and this year increased demand for tickets is expected due to the box office success of The Weir at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin. Brendan Gleeson, who stars in the Olympia production, described The Weir as “one of the rarest plays around”.
SYNOPSIS
In a small bar called The Weir, in a rural town in Ireland, three local men are settling down for the night, enjoying good beer and company. Their normal routine is shaken up when their friend Finbarr enters the bar and introduces them to Valerie, an attractive woman from Dublin, who has just moved into an old, haunted house, in the town. As the night, and the amount of liquor, progresses, each local from the bar starts to tell a tale of ghostly happenings in the town. What starts as innocent braggadocio between the men turns into a real fight when Valerie reveals a real haunting tale of her own from the past. Examining chances of missed opportunities and the loneliness that results in it, The Weir is a haunting, yet humorous, play with its roots in Irish folklore.
