by Rose Rushe
A PAST pupil of Parteen NS who cut his acting/ directing credits with Limerick Youth Theatre is the power behind a show coming to Savoy Hotel this Saturday 12, Sunday 13 – its plush bedrooms, that is.
‘I Do’ is a comedy following the pre-amble to a wedding, the action played out simultaneously between a dozen rooms by chaotic characters to a revolving audience.
Terry O’Donovan left Limerick for a degree in Reading University in Film and Theatre, going on to a Masters in London at the Centre School of Speech and Drama. He set up Dante or Die production company with graduate Daphna Attias and ‘I Do’ is their sixth production. This is their first to play in Limerick or indeed, Ireland.
Talking over the phone from London, O’Donovan refers back fondly to his time in LYT, having been party to the multi-space production ‘Tentacles’ at the then Belltable and its lanes.
“I like working in different spaces and situations,” he states, “our productions generally taking a year and a half to make a show. We develop themes with a collaborator or two”.
‘I Do’ is the first time Dante or Die has worked with a playwright, seeking excellence in a frantic delivery. Daphna Attias directs and is co-creator of the concept along with O’Donovan who often performs.
“In this I am the best man Joe, and I’ve a very last minute best man. Every section of the play lasts for 13 minutes in each room, with a cleaner character being ‘the outside eye’ to it all.
“A local girl, Megan Tomlinson, plays the flower girl who is nine or ten years old”.
Only 72 of an audience is allowed at a time, split into groups of 12 and each assigned by buttonhole to a matching bedroom with its specific drama of bridesmaids, grannies, bride, groom and so on.
Join the ‘I Do’ jolly japes at 5pm and 8.30pm this Saturday 12, Sunday 13 in Savoy Hotel, Henry Steet; book www.limetreetheatre.ie
