by Aoife McLoughlin
AHEAD of his first performance in Limerick’s Lime Tree Theatre, Jon Kenny steps outside the persona he created for D’Unbelievables to express his views on life, love and sexuality before explaining his admiration for the man behind The Match Maker, John B Keane.
Set in 1960’s rural Ireland, Dick Mick Dicky O’Connor sets out to find companionship for the lonely, lovelorn and left behind. Jon stars along side the much-loved Mary McEvoy (Biddy from Irish TV show Glenroe) in Micheal Scott’s hilarious and witty production of The Matchmaker based on the novella “Letters of a County Matchmaker” by John B Keane.
“It’s more a play about relationships, society and lonliness,” explains Jon.
“I think Keane wrote it at a time when he saw there was a need. He was kind of talking about a universal story of people being alone, from young and old.”
Jon’s admiration for Keane is evident as he discusses the poetry in the language of Keane’s work, some of which he has already brought to the stage.
“The beautiful thing you get about this play is you get a sense of Keane. The Matchmaker is nearly the voice of Keane I think and he speaks with this beautiful broad and open mind about life, relationships and sexuality. I suppose nature would be the common denominator where he kind of uses it as a metaphor for so many things. The most amazing thing is it’s hilariously funny.”
Playing an array of colourful characters, Jon and Mary delve in and out of the desires, fears and foibles of each, in hilariously candid performances. Jon gives a taste of one of Mary’s characters, Fionnula Crust, whose insatiable cravings for physical intimacy eventually drives two men to their graves but she still “does not want to die without the imprint of a man”.
Fifty years on, the Matchmaker’s honesty and wit has stood the test of time but Jon believes the subject matter can still be seen as “outrageous”.
“The guy is talking about shagging and riding and having sex, and they are all on about it.”
He effortlessly shifts into character, speaking in an exaggerated Anglo-Irish accent as he describes one of the shows lonely souls – Claude Glenn-Hunter.
“There is one fellow you know, he still hunts and he is looking for a young wife of about 20 and he is not shy. He likes a spot of tennis and he fancies nice boys as well actually.
He is quite interesting for 1960’s Ireland and Keane deals with that in the Matchmaker.”
“The great thing about Keane is you listen the words and you suddenly realise he is talking about an Ireland of tolerance; a liberal Ireland; an Ireland that hasn’t quite come up to the level of expectation that the founding fathers of the state had.
“He does this in the field as well and in a lot of plays. There is a voice there saying something about the situations, the establishment. It’s not necessarily political but it is driven by a social conscience.”
Asked if he thinks Ireland has reached the level Keane had envisioned, he says: “Oh God no, we haven’t, we are trying to now. We have, as a society, absolutely and completely opened up a huge amount. It’s a very topical thing, sexuality is, and even in this play John B deals with a character that is there because it is how he feels about society. So The Matchmaker in 1960’s Ireland is saying that your sexuality is your business. If it’s what you are, it’s what you are.
Discussing his own work in the D’unbelievable’s and the possible influence he and Pat Shortt have had on expanding the minds of Irish audiences, he modestly replies: “I hope it has helped.
“I remember I had written a sketch about a holiday in a caravan and it was grossly exaggerated about my own family. It was about the madness of going up to the West Coast. You move out of a three bedroom house into one bedroom for a month with six kids and a feckin’ dog that was in heat and a senile grandmother and everyone is on Valium and alcohol trying to keep sane. I remember the lads from Father Ted said they wanted to do that and could they use that idea for the show and they put the boys crammed in the caravan. It was mad.
“But this is what makes us different from any other tribe in the world. It’s our unique Irishness. It’s a kind of insanity that makes us think: ‘well sure that’s only normal’.
And then he whispers: “It’s not.”
The Matchmaker will play at the Lime Tree Theatre on May 13 and14 at 8pm. For bookings call the box office: (061) 774774 or go to http://limetreetheatre.ticketsolve.com/
