Backstage Theatre Group set to stage Sive

“There is a frightful curam of us in my father’s house with nothing but a sciath of spuds on the floor to fill us,” Thomasheen the matchmaker reviews a childhood of poverty in John B Keane’s Sive. It’s one throwaway line in a play densely packed with observations on poverty, loneliness and the interdependence of humans.

The line illustrates Keane’s ability to wrought sentences into a shape that is pleasing to hear, regardless of what’s being said. Opinions could be divided, but there would be a fair sized lobby to push the proposal that Sive is Keane’s finest work.

Longford’s Backstage Theatre Group are just a week away from staging their Spring production. The master Kerry dramatist’s work is a perennial audience favourite, not simply because of the brilliance of the story, but also the scope it gives actors.

This is Backstage’s 35th anniversary production: “The group thrived over the last three and a half decades,” Chairperson Olly Kenny said of the milestone. “We have had some unbelievable memorable productions, and great times for everyone involved. It has provided a magnificent platform for great talent. We also have a great theatre here as a legacy for the group.”

With a rich history of performance behind them the chairperson is reluctant to single out highlights: “That’s tricky territory. We came second in the All Ireland finals with ‘Whistle in the Dark’. We won the All Ireland One Act final with ‘Small Box Psychosis’. We hosted the All Ireland One Act finals twice in 1998 and 2009. I could list off memorable productions, but it would be unfair on so many others. We have kept audiences coming back, which is a testament to what the group can do.”

This time last year Backstage Theatre Group emerged from the pandemic with Plaza Suite, two acts of it under the directorial guidance of Christina O’Brien. This year Christina swaps the director’s chair for a centre stage role.

The Longford group have enlisted the talent of Carrigallen’s drama professional Charles McGuinness to guide the 2023 production. Charlie is an actor, writer and director of some renown: “Rehearsals are going fantastic,” he told the Celt. “There is a great group effort. Everyone is working really hard, developing some really interesting characters. They are all nailing it.”

The director says the group has selected a very strong play: “I believe it’s one of John B’s best plays. It has the full range of human emotions; laughter and sadness, badness and madness.”

Charlie lauds the efforts of his charges: “I really want people to see the performance of this cast. They are drawing interesting observations on the characters. I think the performance alone will be worth coming to see.”

The director has assembled a strong cast to tell this tale of a battle of generations and a country in flux. Nanna Glavin is played by Mary Hughes, Mena Glavin is the aforementioned Christine O’Brien, Sive is portrayed by Hannah Carlton. Thomasheen Seán Rua is played by Phil Cox, Diarmuid McGuinness plays Mike Glavin, and Killian Reid will take on the role of Liam Scuab.

The cast also includes Tom Lyons as Seán Dóta, Eileen Murphy as Pats Bocock and the role of Carthalawn is played by Aidan O’Rourke.

Exploitation, greed, love and tragedy are picked over in the play. Nana and Mena bicker and provoke one another in the small smoky cottage where they live with Sive and Mena’s husband, Mike. While Nana dotes on her orphaned granddaughter, Sive, Mena plots to marry the young girl off to an old local farmer for the promise of land and a chance to escape from poverty.

Written in 1959, Sive is an Irish classic and one of the nation’s best loved plays. It’s a story about a battle of generations, a country in flux, exploitation, greed, love and tragedy all told with John B’s lyrical dialogue and great Irish humour.

It’s also a heart-breaking story of how youth and innocence can be destroyed by the greed and cynicism of an older generation. It’s exposure of this exploitation is still chillingly relevant today.

Tickets for Sive at Backstage Theatre, which runs from Thursday, March 30 to Saturday, April 1 are available on 043 33 47888.