Categories
News

Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered Parallels With The Silver Tassie

Maugham retouched
Howard Davies production of Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester is receiving very positive reviews, building on the success of his production of The Silver Tassie at the National Theatre last year.

Michael Billington in his Guardian review points out the parallels between the two works. Both plays use an examination of family to make, “attack[s] on the destructive consequences of war”. While The Silver Tassie takes you to the battlefield For Services Rendered remains inside the family dynamic.

First performed in 1932 in the West End the play was not well received as its anti-war message was not popular at the time. The work received a handful of revivals, including a TV version by Granada in 1959. Howard Davies production is now bringing this play and its message back to the British stage.

Categories
Productions

The Shadow of a Gunman at the Abbey Theatre: Reviews

The Abbey Theatre and  The Lyric Theatre’s co-production of  The Shadow of a Gunman is running on the Abbey Stage in Dublin until the 1st of August.

Wayne Jordan’s production, starring  Mark O’Halloran,  Amy McAllister and  David Ganly,  has received an enthusiastic reception.

  • “High theatrical energy is kept aloft by the colourful parade of O’Casey’s tenement dwellers, and equally the parade of O’Casey’s brilliant writing talent.”
  • “Nothing is more absurd in O’Casey’s 1923 play than the notion that art couldbe indifferent to politics. Set just three years earlier, itsnear-vaudevillian succession of intrusions leading towards something more shattering, was first performed during a vicious Civil War. It was a dangerous weapon itself, a tragedy played for laughs.”
  • “The drama packs a punch…  as O’Casey reminds us ‘it’s the civilians who suffer’.”
  • “All poses have dropped away, and this impressively lucid production leaves us with the question: what would we have done in his place?”

Book now online or contact the Abbey Theatre box office at,  0035-3187 87222.

Categories
News

Aideen O’Kelly, Irish Actor, 1940 – 2015

It is sad to note the death of  Aideen O’Kelly last month. She began her career with the Abbey Theatre  in  1964 playing Mrs Gogan  in  The  Plough and the Stars.  She notably  played  Fionnuala  in  Red  Roses  for  Me  in  addition  to many  other  roles  at  the Abbey.

In  the  1980s  she  moved  to  New  York  and  achieved  acclaim  for  her  acting  on  Broadway.