The Playboy of the Western World - JM SYNGE'S - AUGUST 2018 - Mill Theatre

JM SYNGE’S

The Playboy
of the
Western World
             AUGUST 2018

SUNFLOWER PRODUCTIONS
PRODUCTION CREW
Director                         Kate Canning
Lighting Design                  Kris Mooney
Set Design                       Bairbre Murray
Set Construction                 Tom Ronayne & Bairbre Murray, Dary Gregg, Andrew Pacitto
Stage Manager                    Anika Kidd
Sincere Thanks to Jacqueline Wall, Ballyduff Drama Group and Rathfarnham Theatre Group.

CAST
CHRISTOPHER MAHON                                    Ethan Dillon
OLD MAHON                                            Geoff O’Keeffe
MAG (PEGEEN) FLAHERTY                                Rachel O’Connell
MICHAEL JAMES FLAHERTY                               Evan Jameson
WIDOW QUINN                                          Hilary Madigan
SHAWN KEOGH                                          Ronan Bennett
PHILLY CULLEN                                        Brendan Dunne
JIMMY FARRELL                                        Tony Mathews
SARA TANSEY                                          Remy Naidoo
SUSAN BRADY                                          Amy McCarthy
HONOR BLAKE                                          Miriam Reilly
NELLY                                                Scarlet Short
PEASANTS                                             Barry O’Connor, Andrew Pacitto,
                                                     Niamh McCann

AOIFE CLANCY                                         HARP
SORCHA NI PHEADAIR                                   CELLO

Bairbre Murray Set Designer
Bairbre worked as a production designer with RTE from 1993 to 2001,
designing sets and costumes for a variety of shows including Fair City,
Sport Iris, Disney Club and various one-off and single season dramas. As a
freelance production designer she worked on numerous film and TV projects
including Crimecall, Blaisini Beatha and Winning Streak. Alongside her
work on Film and Television Bairbre has worked as designer and scenic
artist for productions at The Abbey, The Peacock, Druid Theatre, the Tivoli,
The Project, The Crypt and the Olympia. Her designs include the European
premiere of Howard Barkers Women Beware Women and The 12th Battle of
Isonzo, Stephen Jeffrey’s The Libertine and Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest
for Ulster Youth Theatre. The Playboy of the Western World is Bairbre’s first
show with Sunflower Productions

Kate Canning Director
 Kate is currently the Manager of the DLR Mill Theatre. She received her Masters Degree in Drama and
 Theatre Studies from D.C.U. Kate worked in Singapore both as an actor and director and performed with
 the Singapore Lyric Opera in a number of productions including Il Travatore and The Tales of Hoffman
 at the Esplanade Theatre. To further her vocal training Kate moved to London in 2009. In 2011 she
 graduated with a Higher Diploma in Vocal Performance at The Royal Irish Academy of Music. Kate’s
 previous directorial work includes ‘The Plough and The Stars’ for SPARC REP, Shakespeare’s Othello,
 Macbeth, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet for the Gaiety School, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ for
 Smock Alley Productions and Sunflower Productions and most recently ‘Spiced Beef’ at Smock Allies
 Scene and Heard Festival and a production of Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ with Balally Players.

Rachel O’Connell Mag (Pegeen) Flaherty
Rachel has just finished a run of “Coppers the Musical” at the Olympia playing Lucelita. Prior to this she
lived in New Zealand where she played the lead role of Seargant Sarah Brown in Auckland Theatre
Company’s production of “Guys and Dolls”. Before she left for the Southern Hemisphere she played
the Fairy in Theatreworx “The Sleeping Beauty” in the Helix and most recently played Luminous in
their production of “Beauty and the Beast”. She has performed in theatre roles as diverse as they are
numerous. She played five different roles in The Good Doctor, Ladies of Jane and under Milk wood and
in the past few years alone she has performed roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Same Old Moon;
One For The Road; (for which she was awarded Best Actress), Grease, Bar and Ger, Beauty in a Broken
Place, Calendar Girls, Albertine in Five Times, Sit on it and Death of a Salesman. Rachel co wrote the
original Sunbeam Girls for Cork Opera House in which she also played Rose and Stella and most
recently co wrote the new Cork play Shawlies. She is one of the founding members of Cork’s newest
long form improv troupe and Theatre rep “Wolfe Den” with Declan Wolfe and Killian Collins. Rachel is
very excited to be working with Kate and such a talented cast at the Mill Theatre.

Ethan Dillon Christopher Mahon
Ethan is from Cork and is a graduate of Drama and Theatre Studies at University College Cork and The
Gaiety School of Acting. Ethan recently played Pig in the Irish Times Theatre Award winning play Disco
Pigs & Sucking Dublin, and Francis Ledwidge in the New Theatre’s centenary production of Ledwidge,
which toured nationally. Other credits include Norah with The New Theatre, Home with Handy Baker,
The Boys with Reality:Check Productions, The Spinning Heart at The Gaiety Theatre, Hamlet with AC
Productions, Made in China at the Granary Theatre, and Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and The
Full Moon Hotel at Smock Alley Theatre.

Geoff O’Keeffe Old Mahon
Geoff works as a theatre director and has directed extensively for Mill Productions. This work includes,
Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, James And The Giant Peach and Fantastic
Mr Fox. God Of Carnage, Frank Pig Says Hello, A Christmas Carol and Sharon’s Grave. He has also
written and directed many Christmas shows for younger audiences. Other work as a director includes,
Cock at The New theatre, The Astonished Heart at Players theatre and Lost Weekend at the Axis Theatre.
He is delighted to be returning to the stage for the first time in five years. Other acting credits include,
My Second Self at Players Theatre, Auld Davina And Me/I at James Joyce Centre, The Highest House
On The Mountain at Smock Alley Theatre and Billy Redden at The Complex, where he won the award
for Best Male Actor at the IDGTF, 2010.

Hilary Madigan Widow Quinn
Hilary is a long-term member of Balally Players and has also performed several plays with Sunflower
and The Mill Productions. She has competed with Balally Players on the One Act Drama Festivals and
has won several awards and also represented Ireland in Florida and Monaco. She is currently touring
with The Vaginal Monologues by Bow Productions. Hilary is delighted to work once again with Kate
Canning.

Brendan Dunne The Boss
Brendan has been a member of Balally players for many years. He has performed in both the One Act
and Three Act circuits over the years, and acted in the winning play in 2009. Most recently he played
William Henry Blore in ‘Then there were None’ Shlock in ‘Merchant of Venice’ Mr Bennet in ‘Pride and
Prejudice’, a monk in The King, Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Joe Keller in All My Sons.

Scarlet Short Nelly
Scarlet Short is 16 and has always had a keen interest in the performing arts ever since she joined
Aberdeen Youth Musical Theatre (AYMT) in 2012 appearing in “Bye Bye Birdie”, “Joseph and his
Technicoloured Dream coat” and “Carousel”. She recently joined Glencullen Dundrum Musical
Dramatic society where she performed in their showcase of “Sweet Charity” and also appeared in
“Antigone” for The Mill Theatre Youth Company. Scarlet is an accomplished ballet dancer having
recently attained grade 7 for Royal Academy of Dance and now studying for her grade 8. She also
plays the flute at a grade 6 level and is currently preparing for her exam. Scarlet is very excited to be
given this opportunity to be part of this unique production.

Remy Naidoo Sara Tansey
Having fallen in love with performing at the age of 8, Remy has graced many stages. From the
National Concert Hall to the O2 in London, the Mac Theatre in Belfast to the Late Late Show studios,
Remy has perfected her craft in front of audiences over half her life. The Mill is no stranger to her,
having performed in the Feis Maitiu here for years, she won the Record Cup in 2014. She has
thoroughly enjoyed working with the cast for this production of Playboy of The Western World and
hopes to do many more plays in the future.

Tony Matthews Jimmy Farrell
Tony has directed many plays over the years. Currently he is a member of Sandyford Little Theatre
and Glencullen Dundrum Musical and Dramatic Society (GDMDS). Previous acting roles include John
Proctor in The Crucible, Scanlon in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Charlie in Da, Shields in
Shadow of a Gunman, Thomasheen Sean Rua in Sive, Byrne in Big Maggie, Inspector Goole in An
Inspector Calls, Reg in Round and Round the Garden. He has also recently performed in musicals with
GDMDS. In his earlier career Tony had the opportunity to perform in upstate New York with Lissadell
Players in their production of The Righteous are Bold for which he won a Special Acting Award.
His most recent role was Antonio in Ballally Players production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about
Nothing.

Ronan Bennett Shawn Keogh
Ronan is a 24 year old primary school teacher, originally from Conna, Co. Cork. Theatre has been a
passion of his since childhood when his parents would regularly bring him to see plays and musicals.
While in school, he acted in numerous local community productions with Conna Dramatic Society
and in musicals with Fermoy Musical Society. While studying at Mary Immaculate College, he was
thrilled to portray Father Welsh in their production of Martin McDonagh’s ‘The Lonesome West.’ In
recent years, he has acted with Ballyduff Drama group. With them, he has proudly performed in John
B. Keane’s ‘Many Young Men of Twenty’ and in Martin McDonagh’s ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan.’ This
is Ronan’s first time performing at The Mill Theatre and he is delighted to be portraying the part of
Shawn Keogh in this wonderful production.

Miriam Reilly Honor Blake
Miriam has completed two evening acting courses with the Gaiety School of Acting. She appeared
in the Bray One Act Theatre festival this year winning the Best Supporting Actress award for her
performance in For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls. She has also helped out backstage on productions
in 2017 & 2018 and looks forward to gaining exposure to all aspects of theatre in the future.

Evan Jameson Michael James Flaherty
Evan is a school teacher and is returning to the stage for the first time since 2009 when he appeared at The
Mill Theatre in two Balally Players productions: The Great Hunger and Many Young Men of Twenty. He is
delighted to be involved in a production of one of his favourite plays.

Amy MacCarthy Susan Brady
Amy has been heavily involved in drama and musical theatre with several groups over the last 10
years. She runs the Amy MacCarthy Academy of Speech & Drama for children & adults and she is a
classically trained mezzo-soprano. Previous roles include Amanda in ‘Many Happy Returns’, Aisling
in ‘Bookworms’, Cecily in ‘The Importance of Being Honest’, Emily Tallentire in ‘The Hired Man’, Jane
Smart in ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, Julie La Verne in ‘Showboat’, Laurie Williams in ‘Oklahoma’ and
Sarah Browne in ‘Guys & Dolls’. Amy is looking forward to performing in her first role with Sunflower
Productions. Break a leg to all!