by Alan Jacques
A POWERFUL new play telling the story of a woman’s journey of living well with a serious illness will be staged at Ballynanty Community Centre on Wednesday June 10 at 8pm.
Titled ‘taLK — think ahead Limerick’, this witty and heartfelt piece was written by volunteers from North Side Family Resource Centre in Ballynanty. Filled with moments of laughter and tears, this emotive piece of theatre highlights the importance of thinking and talking about end of life.
The production was funded using a seed grant from the Compassionate Communities Project, an initiative of Milford Care Centre which supports people in the Mid-West to think differently about death, and to offer practical support to those facing the end of life.
‘taLK — think ahead Limerick’ follows one woman’s journey through diagnosis to prognosis to living well – and the wonderfully charismatic people she meets along the way.
The concept for the play came from one of the actors, Stephanie Ryan, who saw a women crying while sitting at a bus stop outside a hospital one day. She began to wonder about the woman’s life, why was she crying, and what had she been told in the hospital.
Actor and director Karen Fitzgibbon said the group started with this seed of an idea and worked from there building characters and developing a plot to move the story forward.
“This moving piece of theatre has evolved extensively reflecting the passion emulating from the group as a collective. Theatre is a powerful art form that can deliver a message effectively like no other medium. The focus has been to get the message of ‘thinking ahead’ across with subtlety and delicacy,” said Karen.
The play will be performed in Ballynanty Community Centre on June 10 at 8pm. Admission is free but donations will be accepted for Milford Care Centre.
