by Rose Rushe
A ONE woman show of note finds its way to Friars’ Gate this Thursday June 11 with Irene Kelleher as the title persona of ‘Mrs Shakespeare’.
It’s a piece by writer and composer Ian Wild whose broadcast works for RTE Radio include the comedy trilogy ‘Way Out Wast’ and 20 short stories for Fiction 20. A novelist also, his play ‘The Truth of Masks’ won the North West Playwrights award and was produced for the Royal Exchange.
His ‘Mrs Shakespeare’ has proved successful, making off-Broadway at The Cherry Lane’ in October 2014. So far this year it has toured to Stratford Upon Avon and then Brighton Fringe, collecting accolades and nominations.
The storyline is that William Shakespeare, reincarnated as a woman, finds herself in a mental asylum. She concludes that she has made a mess of writing ‘Hamlet’ 400 ago.
“Armed with a quill and beset by a rebellious cast of characters who are anxious not to be rewritten, she embarks on an epic reformulation of theatre’s most famous text under the new title of ‘Opheila’.
“Unfortunately, William’s therapist is unsympathetic. Is that because he is also a reincarnated Christopher Marlowe, consumed with envy that has been festering away since 1597?”
Actress Irene Kelleher has a distinguished academic and working career in drama, and most recently, played the lead in ‘Desolate Heaven’ at Everyman Theatre, alongside Mary McEvoy. Book in advance at www.friarsgate.ie
