I’m directing two plays at the moment (because I’m a glutton for punishment like that). One of which, Night Of The Living Dead, I’ve already written at length about. The other of which, I haven’t. That play is Phantasm by John Kennedy and it opens this week at Solstice as part of Cork Midsummer Festival.
Solstice is a fantastic arts event that takes place during the Midsummer Festival in Cork and it showcases the work of a whole bunch of talented artists with the focus mostly on younger artists. We played the inaugural festival last year with Smitten and it was definitely one of the best experiences we’ve ever had with Devious Theatre. Too. much. craic. So we’re delighted to be invited back for more of the same!
I’ve been working with John Kennedy for over a year now on various plays. He’s essentially the associate writer with Devious Theatre. And he’s just fucking brilliant. That’s it really. He’s an extremely talented playwright and as he’s still vaguely a pup, he’s only going to get better. We took him on board to develop a play for In The Future When All’s Well last year and that play was Shifting. Phantasm is his follow up. It’s a shorter piece (essentially a one act) and it focuses on just two characters, aimless teenage pot heads Adam and Frankie. They are played by Colin O’Brien and Hazel Doyle who I have loved working with on this show. I worked with Colin last year on Shifting and many a year ago I cast Hazel in the first play I ever directed, a production of The Colleen Bawn. It’s been a blast so far and I’m really excited about showcasing the work of three extremely talented young artists at Solstice.
Phantasm was described in the Irish Independent this past weekend as ‘an examination of the drug addled psyche of Leaving Cert students’ and that seems like a pretty good way to sum it up. It’s sweet, funny, nasty and dirty. And it has lots of foxes in it. I’m also lucky to have such fantastic collaborators as Ken McGuire, Niamh Moyles, David Thompson and Gemma Grant working on it to help make a 30 minute slice of some of the most devious theatre we’ve produced yet. We’re presenting it as a work in progress (yes, it will be returning… soon!) and we hope it turns out to a hell of a trip.
Oh, don’t take drugs kids.
Phantasm opens Thursday June 28th at midnight and is performed again at 4.30pm on Saturday June 30th at Solstice. For tickets, go to this very link: http://solsticecork.com/devious-theatre/
