Upcoming Kildare production to adapt ‘one of the funniest American comedies in years’

Naas’s long-established drama group The Moat Club will stage David Mamet’s critically acclaimed period drama Boston Marriage later this month.

A 'Boston Marriage' was a Victorian term used to describe a relationship between two women that may involve both physical and emotional intimacy.

Set in a New England drawing room circa 1900, David Mamet’s play revolves around Anna and Claire, who are two bantering, scheming ladies of fashion who have long lived together on the fringes of upper-class society.

Anna has just become the mistress of a wealthy man, from whom she has received an enormous emerald and an income to match, while Claire is infatuated with a respectable young lady and wants to enlist the jealous Anna’s help in arranging a meeting in private.

As the two women exchange barbs and take turns taunting Anna’s hapless parlour maid, Claire’s young obsession suddenly appears, setting off a crisis that puts the valuable emerald at risk and threatens the women’s future.

Director Pauline Clooney first saw the play performed in 2004 in the Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs.

The production, by Bespoke Theatre Company, was directed by Loveday Ingram and the cast were Jane Brennan, Ingrid Craigie and Laura Donnelly.

Pauline thought it was 'the most refreshing piece of theatre she had seen on a Dublin stage in years.'

She added: "It was fabulously staged, outrageously funny, and it celebrated female feistiness, which was a pleasant surprise for a Mamet play, his trademark characters being toxic males.

"I consider it an honour and a privilege to direct this play with the Moat Club and give audiences today the opportunity to experience what I did almost twenty years ago."

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Commenting on the work that went into the production, Pauline said: "The rehearsals have been intense... Mamet’s work demands it, but there has been a lot of fun too.

"The production team are also working hard."

She continued: "Nothing is a problem, whether it’s heading off to an auction house and coming back with a chaise longue wedged into a car, or sewing into the night after you’ve put in a long day at work, sourcing Victorian props, designing, building.

"And it is this club spirit, this spirit of volunteerism, of coming together with a common goal that to me is what makes it all worthwhile.

"I have no doubt but that audiences will also feel their night out in the Moat Theatre will be a very worthwhile experience," she concluded.

Boston Marriage runs from Friday, April 14 to Thursday, April 20 at 8pm.

No performance on Monday, April 17.

Bookings on 045 883030 or www.moattheatre.com.

The Irish Times described the play as a 'feisty comedy-without-manners, a delight that promises laughs at a rate of knots', while the New York Post called it 'one of the funniest American comedies in years.'