After the recent resounding success of THEM in both Westport and London, St Patrick’s Drama Group are back with a new production. This time they stage The Telephone Exchange by Niamh Gleeson in the Wyatt Hotel, Westport, from Wednesday April 15 to Saturday April 18.
The Telephone Exchange tells the story of four women working in a suburban Dublin telephone exchange in the early 1960s. It follows the lives and loves of four telephone operators and could be set in any telephone exchange in the country. It is both comic and tragic as it focuses on the different lives and loves of four Irish women. It is an irreverent, joyful, look at women’s lives in the 1960s. Stylistically the play is brilliant and well worth catching. The cast of four bring a wealth of talent to the stage. In keeping with the group’s tradition of encouraging new actors the cast includes an addition to the group. Taking part are Bernie Byrne, Marian Dyar, Mairéad Ryan, and newcomer Edel O’Malley. Each actor takes on a number of parts to great effect. Listening in on some of the various phone calls leads to hilarious results.
Tom Navin will direct The Telephone Exchange. The playwright, Niamh Gleeson, trained as an actor in the Gaiety School of Acting before turning her hand to writing for stage. Though brought up in Clontarf, Dublin, Gleeson has strong links with Kerry and is now living in Tourmakeady. Tickets are on sale in Dyar’s Jewellers, Bridge Street, Westport, on 098 25558/086 8609981. Booking is advisable.
