The Waterside Theatre in Derry is the venue tomorrow night for a drama double bill celebrating the work of the talented 18th century Donegal playwright Charles Macklin.
Charles Macklin
Specially adapted by acclaimed modern Irish playwrights Brian Friel and Gary Jermyn, the productions are being brought to the city by the Charles Macklin Autumn School in Culdaff, Co Donegal, as part of the City of Culture celebrations.
Brian Friel is patron of the Macklin School and opened the first one in 1990. Macklin was a celebrated playwright and actor who was born in the Inishowen seaside village of Culdaff and went on to pursue a successful career on the London stage.
He won admiration from the great poets and actors of the era; among them was Alexander Pope who was so overcome with Macklin’s portrayal of Shylock that he wrote the famous couplet: “This is the Jew, That Shakespeare Drew.”
The production includes Friel’s adaptation of Macklin’s highly successful comedy, “The True-Born Irishman,” performed by the Balor Reps from Ballybofey in Co. Donegal.
In the comedy, the lead character Mrs. Diggerty travels to London for the coronation of George III. She is so impressed by the sights and sounds of the city that on her return she affects a “proper” English accent and changes her name from Doherty to Diggerty. Her husband tries valiantly to cure her of her “vertigo” and return to normal life.
Also on the double bill is a play written and performed by Dublin playwright and actor Gary Jermyn entitled “Macklin – Method and Madness,” which has already been performed in Culdaff at this year’s Macklin School.
This is a short one-act play set in a BBC recording studio in 1941. London is being ravaged by the Blitz and mayhem ensues when the recording of the play is interrupted by the sound of bombs dropping on the city.
Michael James Ford, who is well-known to Dublin audiences in Bewley’s Theatre, joins Gary Jermyn for the performance.
The production takes place on Wednesday evening October 30 at 8pm in the Waterside Theatre. Tickets priced £12 can be purchased from the box office on 02871 314000 or via its website.
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