Program for Juno and the Paycock
Wednesday, October 13
THE SPECKLED PEOPLE provided rich fodder for our first post-play talk-back. In addition to discussing the issues of language, home and memory, we spent a good deal of the session talking about the challenges of adaption for the stage.
THE SPECKLED PEOPLE was originally published as a memoir, a form that has very different characteristics than those required by the stage. How does the playwright take material that is highly episodic and distill it to make a satisfying drama? How do you reap the benefits of unity of time and action when the source material spans an entire childhood?
While there was much that was moving in the evening, which included a brilliant performance from Julika Jenkins, a German actress playing the mother, it seemed that Hugo Hamilton, who did the adaptation of his own material, still is more familiar with the novel and memoir form than the play form.
In the afternoon, we were off to the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s National Theatre, for a performance of Sean O’Casey’s modern Irish classic JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK. The production featured an all Irish cast, starring Sinead Cusack and Ciaran Hinds, directed by English director Howard Davies.
The play, which was written and premiered in 1924, tells the story of a Dublin tenement family, trying to survive in the immediate aftermath of the Irish Civil War of 1922-3. It is a play that is, by turns, comic and tragic. We look forward to having Andrew Hinds, Artistic Director of Classic Stage Ireland, with us at the Thursday TalkBack to share his perspective on the play.
