Up and coming Galway company, Zelig Theatre, have pulled off quite a coup for their new production, the world premiere of Pat McCabe’s Appointment in Limbo which they will stage in the Town Hall.
Ahead of the play’s opening, Zelig director Cathal Cleary met up to discuss the work and began by revealing how the company succeeded in securing the play. “It initially came about through John Kenny of NUIG’s English Dept,” Cleary explains. “I asked him for Pat’s email address as I was interested in doing one of his old plays like Frank Pig or Dead School but after some correspondence between myself and Pat he mentioned that he had a couple of scripts on hand that he hadn’t yet fully developed and would I be interested in working with him on one of those. I think John had recommended us to him and suggested maybe giving us a new work. Pat showed us a couple of scripts and we ended up with Appointment in Limbo and we’ve been working on it together over the past year.”
Cleary declares that the collaborative process was a fruitful one, not least because McCabe never tried to ‘pull rank’ on the basis of his lofty literary status. “Pat always took my notes on board. He acknowledged that he’s primarily a novelist here trying to write something for stage and that maybe I’ve more of a theatrical sense. He told me not to be afraid to cut stuff away that wasn’t working. He’s not worried about his reputation as a theatre writer because his reputation as a novelist is well established. Still, he’s fascinated with developing characters that come alive onstage which I think is one of the attractions theatre holds for him.”
Cleary goes on to describe the play itself. “Appointment in Limbo is essentially a ghost story, but one that involves a lot of singing. At one point Pat himself described it as ‘Singing In The Rain –in Hell’. It’s set in a contemporary strip club in Dublin on its opening night, which is Hallow’s Eve. The first customers this club gets are ghosts and ghosts of these horrible men from Irish history; there are two of the Invincibles who murdered Lord Cavendish in Phoenix Park in 1882, then there’s Harry Bunion from Belfast who was one of the Shankill Butchers, Banjo Forkins who killed his wife (with his banjo! ), and Fr Alphonsus Spillane from Mayo who was a paedophile. The strip club is called Limbo so they’re basically waiting in limbo before being dragged through the gates of hell. We also have the club manager Mary and she doesn’t know they’re ghosts, she thinks they might be hallucinations, so they’re there waiting for The Man From God Knows Where, alias the devil. These men are in complete denial over what they did and yet they’re in a place where the only place they can go is hell.”
Cleary enlarges upon the play’s concerns. “These are all men that are condemned. They also all have had problems with their mothers. A strip club is a place where animalistic feelings are encouraged and these men do seem to live by their lower instincts. The play is also about different kinds of abuse of power and I find that fascinating as well. And while it’s a dark play with dark characters, there’s a surreal humour there too.”
And what of the play’s musical element? “Pat always had a fascination with old Irish songs and these ghosts also have connections to music and their memories are summoned up via music,” Cleary explains. “The Twangman, one of the Invincibles, sings a traditional ballad called ‘The Twangman’. Mary sings ‘Gortnamona’, Henry Bunion sings an Orange song, so there are all these old traditional songs throughout the play.”
Zelig have put together a fine cast for the production, including John O’Dowd, Salleog O’Halloran, Patrick Curley, Brian Gleeson, Darragh Denaney, Hugh Kirwan, and Daniel Costello.
Appointment in Limbo runs at the Town Hall from August 28 to 30 2008, with a preview on Wednesday August 27. Ticket prices are €18/€14, preview €10.
