A mother and daughter from Claregalway will face off in a battle of the shows this weekend in the city when both take lead roles in two excellent productions being staged in two different theatres.
Liz Hession will play the role of the Mother Superior in the Compantás Lir production of Eclipsed by Patricia Burke Brogan which runs at An Taibhdhearc from tonight Thursday March 27, and is on again Friday March 28 and Saturday March 29.
Her daughter Ailbhe Hession will be the star attraction across town as she plays the lead role in Galway Musical Society’s production of Evita. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s extraordinary multi-award winning musical will be staged in the Town Hall Theatre by the Galway Musical Society from Tuesday March 25 to Saturday 29 at 8pm nightly, with a matinee performance on Saturday 29 at 2.30pm.
Liz and Ailbhe are both members of a family well versed in musical and theatrical circles and are looking forward to this unusual theatrical situation which sees them leading competing shows in competing theatres in the same city on the same nights.
Directed by Brian and Seán Power, Evita will feature Ailbhe Hession and Shane Kelly as Evita Perón and Ché Guevara. The musical director is Shane Farrell; the chorus master is Paddy Daly; choreography is by Declan Gardiner; and set design is by Conn O’Ceallaigh. Tickets are available from the Town Hall on 091 - 569777 or www.tht.ie
Framed by a present-day prologue and epilogue, Eclipsed is set mainly in 1963 in a convent laundry at St. Paul's Home for Penitent Women in Killmacha, Ireland. Eclipsed was inspired by the practice - which started in the time of the Famine, and lasted well into the 1960s and even longer - of making pregnant and unwed Irish mothers work as 'penitents' in church-run laundries.
Compantás Lir have been touring Ireland with this production on the amateur drama circuit for the last month and these are their sole Galway city performances.
The cast of Eclipsed, directed by Philip Cribben, includes Liz Hession, Stella Fleming, Úna Duffy, Ruth O’ Driscoll, Mary Killackey, Maura Mannion, Kate McCarthy and Áine Cahalan.
Tickets are on sale at €15 and €12.50 and can be bought from 091 563 600 or from www.antaibhdhearc.com
