DINNER cabaret is enjoying a revival in Limerick as a stimulating theatre format. Following on from The Locke Bar’s ‘Old Time Irish Radio Show’ and CentreStage’s ‘Waiting on Love’, Carlton Castletroy Park Hotel is the venue for a September night of food, fundraising and fun. The latest venture is undertaken by Changing Times Theatre Company, which broached its take on dinner cabaret last year at Absolute Hotel to good applause.
“Our plays this time are ‘Melody’ by Deirdre Kinahan and ‘What’s for Afters’ by David Tristram,” artistic director of the company, Jean Fay tells us. “Changing Times is staging these in Carlton Castletroy Park Hotel as a fundraiser for the Mid-Western Hospital Development Trust’s breast cancer unit. Each year we want to do one project for charity and 2010’s was Special Olympics. The dinner cabaret takes place on Friday September 23 at 8pm when we will stage the two shows first and then enjoy a two course dinner at the hotel.
“Tickets are €25 for the meal and plays and we expect to contribute €10 of that to the hospital fund”.
‘Melody’ is a two-hander directed by David Fielding. Changing Times gives us a thumbnail sketch of the plot: “Two lonely souls, a bachelor and a widow, discover that they share many common interests – classical music, ham and cheese sandwiches and massage parlours”.
It stars Caitriona Stack and Damien Pilkinton.
Jean Fay describes it and ‘What’s for After’s, directed by Suzie O’Brien, as “ideal for the evening, two short, gentle, comedy romances”. Tristram’s play is about a bored middle aged couple who are reluctant hosts to a younger, wilder pair who come bearing whiskey. Noel Dillon, Kim Brown, Mark McGee, Eukaria O’Grady and Evelyn Kileen McCrann are cast by O’Brien.
There’s plenty on the agenda of Friday 23 to amuse men and women with the prospect of luscious food to charm the gags. €25 tickets selling at the Carlton and through Jean Fay, based at St Munchin’s College, Corbally.
Support this theatre evening of comedy, dinner and charity on Friday September 23. Pictured left: Noel Dillon, Kim Brown, Mark McGee, Eukaria O’Grady and Evelyn Kileen McCrann in rehearsal.
