Coolderry Drama put on a great night's entertainment to packed audiences

COOLDERRY Drama put on a great night's entertainment to packed audiences recently when they performed the very funny and popular play “The Maiden Aunt”.
Over three nights in Coolderry Hall the cast skilfully brought this comedy to life. It was obvious that a great deal of work had gone into the show. The audience responded very enthusiastically to what they were watching on the night I attended.
All the action of the play takes place in the sitting room/kitchen of Mary and Dan Murphy. Mary is a hardworking farmer's wife, but there is a hint of the rebellion to come when she announces right at the start of the play that she is thinking of cutting back on her housework duties and taking on a new job in a local restaurant, run by a man called Pierre. Mary tells her husband Dan that Pierre seems a happy person. He's also married. “If he's married he's hardly happy,” comments Dan, ruefully.
The news comes through that Mary's aunt Gertie O'Grady is leaving hospital and Mary has invited her to stay with them for a while. Dan is horrified by this prospect. “That one needs locking up,” he says about Gertie, adding that she is a hypochondriac and she will “make our house a living hell.” His wife tells him he has no choice and warns him to behave himself. “There will be no swearing, no blowing your nose into the tea towel.”
Dan and Mary's son, John Paul, comes down to the kitchen, heavily hungover. “I knew I shouldn't have had that feed of pints last night.” Dan has no sympathy: “You are at death's door are you? I won't keep you so.” Dan admonishes him for not being willing to work on the farm. John Paul says he has a vocation elsewhere. “I am a musician, I am going to be famous,” he says, with a heavy dose of naivety. He says he and his friend Jarlath McKenna are going to form a band which will be called The Muck Spreaders!
Francie Gilhooley turns up. Francie falls into the likeable rogue category. He works as a farm labourer on Dan's farm. He's horrified when he learns Aunt Gertie is going to be staying in the Murphy household. “I went to school with that one. She made my life hell. She used to pinch my marbles.”
Gertie arrives at the house. “Look at the face on her,” comments Francie. “It's like she has a wasp in her knickers.”
Gertie quickly proves herself to be tyrannical, mean spirited and stingy. She gives Mary a gift. Mary unwraps it with a certain amount of enthusiasm. It's a towel from the hospital. Mary offers her tea. “I won't drink tea without a strainer,” says Gertie.
Gertie starts to tell Dan off. “Don't you get high and mighty with me Gertie,” retorts Dan. “You are not a teacher anymore. Do ya know if there was electricity in that chair I would plug it in.”
Francie fancies himself as a lady's man. “There isn't a woman born yet that could ignore my advances,” he remarks confidently to Dan when the two of them are on their own. Dan bets him a €100 that he wouldn't be able to defrost and seduce Gertie. Francie accepts the bet.
Jarlath and John Paul enter. They are talking about ways of raising money to form their band. “We could be male strippers like in The Full Monty,” suggests John Paul. Filled with giddiness and fun they start dancing and stripping, at which point Gertie enters. Naturally, she is horrified and completely humourless.
When Gertie is on her own she reveals that she will have a substantial Will and the Murphys will not get a penny of it. She will give it to someone else. It soon transpires that that someone is Jarlath, for whom she quickly develops a soft spot. She mistakenly thinks butter wouldn't melt in Jarlath's mouth. In fact he's something of a rogue.
Caroline Quinn, Chair of the local ICA and a friend of the Murphys, calls. Gertie asks Caroline to move back a bit because “your perfume is affecting my sinuses.” Caroline says the perfume is called “Naked Desire.” Gertie replies that it smells like “burning rubber.”
Not long after, Francie and Gertie are alone together and Francie launches into his attempted seduction. “People may say you have the personality of a pit bull,” he tells the Maiden Aunt, “but I think you are full of passion.” He serenades her with the song “The Combine Harvester.” Gertie remains completely immune to his charms. He grows desperate and slapstick ensues. They collapse together onto the sofa with Gertie on top of him. Gertie shoves him aside and threatens him with legal action. Francie has completely failed. What is more he could be in trouble with the law.
More shenanigans ensue, during which Gertie is so shocked and appalled by the behaviour of the others that she faints. They think she's dead. And then Dan hatches a plan which will involve committing a fraudulent act in the hope of getting the money from the Maiden Aunt's Will. The plan will involve getting Francie to impersonate Gertie in front of a solicitor and drawing up a Will. Needless to say, it all backfires spectacularly for the simple reason that Gertie wasn't dead at all (Mary, pointing out that she did a First Aid course, confidently took her pulse and misdiagnosed) and after a while she wakes up from her fainting fit.
Jimmy Keary is one of Ireland's most popular contemporary playwrights, known for his warm, witty comedies that celebrate rural life, colourful characters and the gentle chaos of community. Based in Westmeath he has written numerous stage plays that have become firm favourites with amateur drama groups across the country. His work is loved for its sharp dialogue, clever plotting and the unmistakable Irish humour that runs through every scene.
The Maiden Aunt was a typical Keary play, offering audiences an evening of laughter and warmth. Every actor rose to the occasion, all obviously enjoying their roles very much. It was evident that a great deal of work had been invested in the play. There were no forgotten lines; cues were not missed.
Sandra Maloney was excellent at portraying the misery-guts that was the Maiden Aunt. This character never softens; she remains resolutely unpleasant from start to finish. Sandra was excellent at playing the iciness and unredeemable nature of this person. She confidently embraced the role and didn't hold back. The moment of slapstick where she and Francie collapse on the sofa was well done, producing one of the biggest moments of laughter from the audience on the night.
Jamie McCormack also did a great job as Mary Murphy, getting the tone of the character just right. Mary willingly engages in a serious act of fraud but we breezily overlook that because this is a play about not overthinking things and having a good laugh.
Gilbert Bryan also showed himself to be a good actor, effectively portraying Dan Murphy, a quiet-spoken person, with a sometimes viper-like tongue and a scheming mind which drops into criminality without any show of conscience.
Tom Kelly gave a strong performance as Francie Gilhooley. Tom had to spend quite a bit of time in drag but he showed no embarrassment about this whatsoever. He was also good at slapstick acting. Francie is a disreputable character but again this doesn't bother us because the mood of the play remains unfailingly comedic.
Tommy Teehan and Jason O'Connor put in good turns in the roles of John Paul Murphy and Jarlath McKenna respectively. John Paul and Jarlath are characters which are great fun to act and Tommy and Jason evidently launched into their roles with relish.
Finally, a big shout out to the Director Sue Cleary who obviously did a great job with this Keary play, bringing out strong performances from the cast and ensuring a fine evening's entertainment in Coolderry Hall.
This was Sue's first time directing. She said she enjoyed every moment working with the cast and was “delighted with the warm, supportive response” they gave her as she settled into her new role.

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