Sunday, April 5, 2009

Welcome


Welcome to Triad's Production of The Lonesome West dramaturgical page. In what follows you will get a glimpse at the behind the scenes process that goes went into this production. All the information below is meant to help aid the production.

About the Author: Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh is a modern playwright notorious for using dark comedy, often using "his personal combination of the rough Irish dialect, heavy symbolism, and grim, surprising twists to weave a story worth hearing". His plays usually are set in the country of Ireland, specifically Galway County.

Martin McDonagh was born in the country of England to a pair of Irish immigrants. During the summer time Martin would often leave England and visit relatives in the County of Galway. And at the age of 16 his parents decided to move back to Ireland; however, both Martin and his brother John Michael (a screen writer) decided stay in England. And in the summer of 1994, McDonagh produced the drafts of seven for seven plays in the span of only nine-months. Of these seven all but one have been published and produced.
During his career McDonagh has won a copious amount of awards including, 4 Tony nominations for Best Play, the Critic's Circle Theatre Awards for Most Promising Playwright in 1996, and an Oscar for his short film Six Shooter in 2005.



The Lonesome West Company


Cast:

Colman Connor: Ryan Ross
Girleen: Claire Kaplan
Father Welsh: Brendan Cavalier
Valene Connor: Bobby Schiefer


Production Team:

Director: Adam Parker
Assistant Director: Tess McIntyre
Stage Manager: Sarah Palmer
Dramaturge: Anthony Simone

Set Designer: Kristine Kerr
Light Designer: Zach Wickholm
Costume Designer: Josh Hyatt
Sound Designer: Matt Lescault-Wood

Production Corner

The city of Leenane



Check back shortly for pictures of the design elements - Coming soon!

History of Ireland

Potato Famine
During the first half of the 1800's families greatly depended on the potato not only as a source of food but as a bartering tool in order to purchase other items of food from local sellers. During this time the average man would consume roughly between 7 & 15 lbs of potatoes a day.  In 1841 roughly 2/3rds of the population solely relied on the potato as a source of food.  So from 1845 - 1848 the famine consumed over 2 million lives.  Because of this the famine is known as the Great Famine to the British, the Great Hunger to the Irish Middle Class and the Great Starvation to the Irish peasantry.  


During the war many families were evicted, portrayed in the portrait to the left, because they were forced rather than selling the potatoes for profit to pay rent they instead would use the money little money made to buy food, so they wouldn't starve.

Causes: The cause of the famine was due to blight fungus, and phtophthora infestans which ultimately caused the potatoes to rot. (Refer to picture on left)

The famine also brought about diseases such as typhus, cholera (a diarrheal illness which is caused by an infection in the intestine and leads to rapid loss of body fluids and ultimately death if untreated), dysentery (A illness caused by a parasite that causes its victim to have a soft bloody stool), & scurvy (Loss of teeth and bleeding into the skin caused by lack of Vitamin C).

In the years following 1848 the country, now 2 million shorter, and in a huge crisis started to try to put the Great Famine behind and move on.  However, since the peasants were the ones who died many of the native tongues were lost,  of this include Gaelic, and so in the years following the famine the country's native tongue switched to English.  More specifically in Leenane the city hotel became the center of the city and helped to bring revenue into the city.

Fun Facts

Couples in Ireland could marry legally on St. Brigid's Day (February 1st) in Teltown, County Meath, as recently as the 1920’s by simply walking towards each other. If the marriage failed, they could "divorce'" by walking away from each other at the same spot, on St. Brigid’s day the following year. The custom was a holdover from old Irish Brehon laws, which allowed temporary marriage contracts.

One of the most popular radio shows in rural Ireland is still the weekly broadcast of local obituaries

According to one rather obscure Irish Legend, a ringing in your ears means a deceased friend stuck in Purgatory is ringing a bell to ask for you to pray for him/her

"Keening" is the Irish version of loud crying at wakes practiced in several European cultures.  It involves wailing and expressing endearments in Gaelic to the deceased.                                              

City of Leenane

"[The city of Leenane is truly] one you can never appreciate until you visit!"  The city is located on the southern shore of Killary Harbor - Ireland's only fjord - with spectacular views of Galway, Mayo Mountains and the bay.  Leenane is also known, around the world, as a beautiful place to visit to see truly outstanding natural beauty.

However, strewn all over the community is evidence of the great Famine, which affected this small city the worst in the 1840's.  Evidence of the Famine range from the famine relief roads to ruined buildings.

This small village- which consists of a single street- contains two local bars Hamilton's Bar and Gaynors "The Field" Bar, as well as a Post Office , a few small grocery shops and the Leenane Culture Centre, which houses a sheep and wool museum. 

The population of the city is roughly 14.  

Climate
Rainfall occurs every month of the year, though the late autumn and winter months are the worst.  

March temperature 38F to 49F
Daily Hours of sunshine 3.2
Monthly Rainfall 4"

April Temperature 41F to 54F
Daily hours of Sunshine 4.9
Monthly Rainfall 4.1"

May Temperature 48F to 64F
Daily hours of sunshine 3.5
Monthly Rainfall 3.5"

Jobs and Money
The main source of employment in the village is found in aquaculture and tourism fields.  The explosion of tourist to this area started in the 1800's with the walkers and fisherman who visited this remote little town, but more recently the film The Field directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Richard Harris allowed people all over the world get a glimpse at the beauty of this village.

School

   Primary School
       Children attend this from age 4/5 to age 12/13.

   Post-primary school
       Children attend this from age 12/13 to age 17-19
       In the third year students must past The Junior Certificate which
        a state examination.  And in the 6th year students must pass the
        Leaving Certificate

    Third Level Education
       Universities and college
          * Fees for this school were abolished by the government in 
             the late 1990's.

The world in 1993

Below you will find a list of the number one songs in Ireland from 1991-1993. I tried to keep it short but also give you an idea of the different types of music that were famous in Ireland.

1991
Michael Jackson Black & White
Guns N Roses Don’t Cry

1992
Wet Wet Wet Goodnight Girl
Shakespear’s Sister Stay
Boyz II Men End of the Road
Eric Clapton Tears in Heaven

1993
Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You
Christy Moore This Time
2 Unlimited No Limit
Shaggy Oh Carolina
The Bluebells Young at Heart

Terms

Codding
Comes from the word Cod which is a UK slang word meaning to joke, so codding is joking

Poteen (pah-CHEEN)
 Whiskey illicitly distilled in Ireland. The name comes from the word pota which means Pot because poteen was traditionally distilled in a small pot. For Centuries, Poteen was produced in pot-stills under the bright moon, and because of the also became known as ‘The Shine’ or Moonshine. This type of brew was very strong usually 80% volume (160 units) and had a distinctive dry grainy flavor with a delicate aftertaste that became sweeter as it developed. 
Myth: People would pour the liquid on wounds and sores for they believed it had disinfectant properties

EC
An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

Gobshites
A person regarded as mean or contemptible

Cadging
Begging

Bob
European slang for Shilling

Maudlin
Drunk enough to be emotionally silly. Stems from the alteration of the Mary Magdalene, from her depiction as a weeping penitent.

Canonized
The act of declaring a dead person an official saint

Feigning
To fabricate 

Gasurs
A small boy

Boss-eyes
 Cross-eyed

Scalextrix


B&B 
Bed and Breakfast 

Flogging
English slang for selling

Batter
To beat with successive blows 

Shingle
Mostly found in Western Europe, a beach composed of pebbles.

Montgomery Clift
An Academy Award winning american actor who died in the 60's. The film that Colman refers to is the 1953 film entitled I Confess by Hitchcock where he played Father Micael William Logan.

I Confess
The film by Alfred Hitchcock staring Montgomery Clift.  Interesting piece of knowledge - the film was banned in Ireland because it showed a priest having a relationship with a woman (even though, in the movie, the relationship takes place before the character becomes a priest).  Click here to watch trailer. 















Bella
First published in October of 1987.  Its target audience is 25 -44 year old women with children, median age is 44.

Take a Break
First published in March 1990, and is now the largest bestselling weekly coming in at 1.2 million copies.

Ker Plunk
A nerve-racking game of skill & judgement with a helter skelter marble drop.  For 2-4 players.  This is a classic game of skill for all ages, it's a great test of hand-eye coordination. The game consists of a clear plastic tube, 30 thin sticks and 32 marbles.  The object of the game is where each player pulls out one of the sticks hopefully without making any of the marbles fall to the bottom, if you happened to be unfortunate and all the marbles fell it would definitely be a 'Ker-plunk! and you would lose the game.



Vol-au-vents
French for "windblown" to describe its lightness - it is a small hollow case of puffy pastry with a round opening at the top where ingredients such as mushrooms, meat, fruit and cheese can be added.




Taytos










Hill Street Blues:  Video clip
A 1981 TV series in the US but started showing reruns in Ireland in the 1990’s. What Hill Street Blues did was revolutionize TV sitcoms by creating “interwoven plot lines, which created [their] distinctive ambience: “ ‘Quick cuts, a furious pace, a nervous camera made for complexity and congestion, a sense of entanglement and continuous crisis that matched the actual density and convolution of city life’ ”. The show also pushed the envelope by portraying controversial social issues like TV taboos (ex. Strong language and sexuality)
PREMISE: Set in the Hill Street Station, the show gave a narrative of this station which was located in a crime-infested ghetto metropolis. Each episode would chart a “day in the life” at the station. It would start from the early morning roll call to the late-night rehash of the day’s events.

Alias Smith and Jones: Video clip
A 1971 TV series originally staring Pete Duel (Hannibal Heyes) and Ben Murphy (Kid Curry) premised around a pair of western outlaws desperately trying to reform. However, when Hannibal Heyes killed himself, allegedly a self inflicted gunshot, the network hired Roger Davis to replace Pete Duel – however after Roger joined the show never regained its popularity that it had with Duel.

Locations

Connaught 

Carraroe

Who who in Leenane

Alison O'Hoolihan
Was the love of Coleman's life until she accidently chocked on a pencil and married the doctor who helped her dislodge the pencil

Maryjohnny
An older woman who allegedly owes Colman a pint of alcohol; however due to her Alzheimers has yet to keep her word.

Tom Hanlon
A ex-police officer who recently returned back to Leenane. We find out that he has committed suicide by walking into the lake and drowning.  He was 38 years old.

Mairtin Hanlon
Allegedly killed Valene's dog by chopping off its ears of as a child. She is also the sister of Tom Hanlon

Liam Hanlon
Allegedly stole the marble's from Valene's Ker-Plunk game as a child.

Blind Billy Pender

Maureen Folan
A murder in the community who killed her mother by taking her brains out with a poker

Mick Dowd
Colman's and him would play prentend camping in between the gaps of the beds as children. Since then he has killed his missus with an axe through her head.

Duffy
Works for the home owners insurance company in Leenane.

Pato Dooley
Beat up Valene as a child.

Eamonn
Girlee's cat that was kicked by Mr. Connor

Lassie
Valene's deceased childhood dog

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Origin of Connor
   Male named, derived from the Gaelic name Conchobar meaning "Wolf Kin" or "Lover of hounds"