To
have taken the 19th century melodramatic romantic comedy The Shaughraun by Irish playwright Dion
Boucicault from a traditional, usually heavily staged setting and perform it
outdoors in Crediton Town Square was a brave feat, requiring vision and verve
from Peter Hamilton and Crediton Arts Centre last summer. The gamble of offering Crediton a piece of
non-Shakespearean open-air theatre paid off and the show was so well received
the suggestion of an indoor revival this spring was warmly welcomed both by the
home crowd and further afield.
Coming
into the intimate snug-in-pub welcome of a packed Crediton Arts Centre on
Saturday 31st March the audience was greeted by live Irish folk music,
lifting and transporting the spirits to another place, Suil-a-Beg, County Sligo
on the West of Coast of Ireland, and another time, 1858, when the ownership and
autonomy of Ireland was being fought over.
Despite
the heady, heavy political backdrop the piece is comedic and the humour was
well played out. Tom Blaen performed a chortle-inducing foppish English officer
Captain Mollineaux, in love with the witty Irish gentlewoman Claire Ffolliott
(Katherine Marsland) but duty bound to follow his orders to capture her
brother, escaped convict Robert Ffolliott (Stu Wight), affianced to her friend
Arte O’Neal (Petrina Truman). Truman carries the refinement and status of Arte
well and remains frostily aloft to the lascivious advances of Cory Kinchela
(Pat Laver) to make her his wife and possession having crippled her financially
by the poor management of her lands and estates. Fortunately for Arte and Robert, the loyal
and inventive poacher-cum-vagabond ‘shaughran’ Conn O’Kelly (Tim Hole) is
determined to foil the double-crossing of Corry and sidekick Harvey Duff (Eddie
Holden) to help his friend Robert.
Hole’s
portrayal of Conn was the driving force of the performance, his mesmerizingly
energetic story telling lighting up the stage, infectiously invigorating his
fellow cast members with the optimism to defeat Kinchela and Duff whatever the
cost…
Hole
was well supported by his love Moya Dolan (Victoria Crossly), gentle and yet
full of joyful mischief, the peaceable Father Dolan (Geoff Fox) and emotional Mrs
O’Kelly (Hilary Hamilton). The Chorus
did an entertaining job of keeping the audience abreast of where they were as
the adventure capered around the landscape of Suil-a-Beg.
The
show toured three other venues (Beer, Moretonhampstead and Newton Abbot) before
coming home to Crediton Arts Centre.
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