drama on near

Jammie Dodgers by Ciara Gillan is a workplace comedy set in Berlin about a group of office temps from various countries (Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, the U.S.) who are determined to do as little work as possible, outsmart their manipulative boss, delay adult responsibility and not sleep with each other. They fail on all counts. Jammie Dodgers is a show that explores that time in your early twenties when, despite your best efforts, you start becoming an adult and making the choices that will determine your future.

Directed by Anna Nugent

Jammie Dodgers by Ciara Gillan is a workplace comedy set in Berlin about a group of office temps from various countries (Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, the U.S.) who are determined to do as little work as possible, outsmart their manipulative boss, delay adult responsibility and not sleep with each other. They fail on all counts. Jammie Dodgers is a show that explores that time in your early twenties when, despite your best efforts, you start becoming an adult and making the choices that will determine your future.

Directed by Anna Nugent

Written by Eamon Somers, produced and directed by Berni Dwan, with audio production by Declan McGlade, A Quarter of Broken Biscuits captures a snapshot of life in Dublin’s Liberties in the 1960s. With the main action emanating from a local grocery shop, the characters grapple with two main issues – the age-old housing crisis, and the nascent realization that homosexuality does indeed exist. The backdrop of emigration and displacement adds a sense of urgency to these questions of social justice in a modest and homogenous Irish community.

The author of A Quarter of Broken Biscuits, Eamon Somers, is a gay man who grew up in the Liberties, in a shop run by his parents. Eamon is perfectly placed to recall a way of life that has all but disappeared from Dublin’s inner-city neighbourhoods, as well as capturing the challenges of being a young gay man in this time and place.

Made with the support of Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision scheme through the Television License Fee.

All The Way to Mars and Back by Eddie Naughton
Directed by Anna Nugent

ALL THE WAY TO MARS AND BACK is about day in the life of a community where the endemic drug problem has become a way of life. It begins with the funeral of a drug addict and ends with yet more deaths.

In between, the play points up the sinister elements that has the community in a vice like grip; the unscrupulous drug baron, the uncaring, aspiring dealers, and the dangerous, pathetic addicts who do what they must to outlive each day.

Then there are the broken parents in the community whose way of life has been altered utterly by the fact that their drug dependent sons and daughters now look on them merely as a resource to get what they want to maintain their habit.

The play offers no answers but does ask questions.

CAST:

Amy Herbert as Laura

Stephen Kelly as Franner and Tommy

Laurence Lowry as Liam and Voice

Michael Mullen as Peter and Henchman

Paul Nugent as Bobo, Priest, Newscaster, Server and Det. Treahy

Fiana Toibin as Bernie, Marion and Teasie

This series was made with the support of the Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision scheme through the Television License Fee.

Still We Sing by Martina Collender
Directed by Anna Nugent

Ghent, 1956, autumn. The play opens to find a small group of actors in rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet. We discover these play-actors are being led Nickolas Locke and they are rehearsing the play in brutal conditions, against all odds.

We discover this group of people have been torn from their homes, their lives, the livelihood, the identity, there dignity has been torn from them. Everything they have ever known has been ripped from them. The reason for this is the colour of the skin, there accents, where they come from, who they are, crimes they are accused of committing, none of the reasons make sense. None of these reasons are good enough. They are deeply distressed and confused by the way they are treated by the soldiers, who have come and are forcing them to live in a segregated area. The area they are living is very small, there is three building with no toilet facilities and is expected to be the home for over 1,000 people. If they were to leave they would shot. If they were to escape there is nowhere to go. There is limited food and is rationed out. Every morning they must attend a meeting led by the Commander, a man who has been chosen by the soldiers to deliver news, at these meetings they are told of news about rations, of new people arriving, of certain people expected to leave. This a source of constant worry as they never know what they will be told or not.

The soldiers who man the area, carry guns, and have fists as strong as steel, they aren’t afraid to use.

They characters in the play range from a few weeks old to 50 years old, each passing moment is ticking clock on their lives, each breath they take is bated with fear, each day is a new treat and still, they insist on rehearsing the play, still, the battle on against all odds.

CAST:

Paul Nugent as NICKOLAS LOCKE

Fiana Toibin as KATHERINE LOCKE and NEWSREADER

Iva Kevra as GRACE LOCK and NEWSREADER

Mark Anthony O’Rielly as SAMUEL LOCKE

Tim Casey as JONATHAN ILIC and GENERAL JODI

Ryan Roy as STEPHEN PETROVIC and TOMMY LOCKE

Emmanuel Okoye as ANDREW PETROVIC

John J. O’Hagan as JACK VENEZIA

Made with the support of the Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision scheme through the Television License Fee.