PAT Talbot is a veteran producer, well known for heading up artistic direction at Cork’s Everyman Theatre. His show ‘God Bless the Child’ toured nationally to acclaim last year, with Talbot adapting Frank O’Connor’s stories to the stage. It is Talbot’s concept and he is director; we can enjoy the show this Saturday May 28 at Lime Tree Theatre, 8pm.
‘God Bless the Child’ is an amalgam of various, loved stories by O’Connor, a satisfactory drama derived from “three of his funniest stories, ‘My Oedipus Complex’, ‘The Genius’ and ‘First Confession’.”
O’Connor’s words are respected wholly. The text is his alone.
Finding a focal piece of action was pivotal. This dynamic is rooted in the classroom, a place that was fulcrum to the tenets of “early 20th century Roman Catholic Ireland” but from where Talbot, ourselves the audience and O’Connor’s readership can extrapolate universalities.
On the challenge of taking a multiple of someone else’s stories and creating a sensible dramatic whole, Pat Talbot insists that “theatrically, [God Bless the Child] is quite efficient in terms of being a play for theatre. These stories are told in the first person narrative and this transposes quite directly in terms of the actors’ characters addressing the audience”.
And his actors are the finest, Ciarán Bermingham, Shane Casey and Gary Murphy, “who primarily play the three primary school boys and also supporting characters. Their stories are told in very theatrical ways – it’s really enjoyable”.
Book with www.limetreetheatre.ie for May 28 only, 8pm.
