Schools combine to bring O’Casey classic to St Pat’s

Four Cavan schools have come together to perform ‘Juno and the Paycock’, which will debut next Wednesday (April 9).

Hosted by St Patrick’s College they will be joined by Loreto College, The Royal School Cavan and Breifne College students in taking to the stage for the Seán O’Casey play.

Directed by St Pat’s teacher Niall Monahan and Deputy Principal Gwen Brady, the matinee will be held on Wednesday, where senior citizens and local nursing homes’ residents will be treated to the first viewing of the production.

On Thursday right through to Saturday, the performance will be open to the public with both teachers and students bursting with excitement to showcase the fruits of their countless rehearsal hours. This week alone, the crew will be putting in thirty plus hours of rehearsals.

The art, engineering and construction departments at St Pat’s have all come together to create the set, with further collaboration from the music department whose orchestra and choir add a unique trad twist to the stage drama.

Sticking to the script “very strictly”, the director explained the performance will be broken up with music under the instruction of Musical Director Ciaran Tackney “to make it more appealing to everybody”.

Speaking to The Anglo-Celt, Mr Monahan said rehearsals began as early as September last year. He explained Juno and the Paycock is set during the Civil War and follows the Boyle family, with Juno being the matriarch of the family.

“She really holds the whole family together, they are a family who are struggling economically, who actually get a stroke of good luck and there’s a promise of money coming in from a relation who has passed away.

“It’s about the sense of hope that the family have based on the promise of that.”

Mr Boyle is the father of the family and someone who is “not very fond” of working, while Juno is also left to take care of her son who has been injured in the 1916 Rising and her daughter Mary who is “full of ideologies” about the movement.

“It’s really about the struggle of this family during the Civil War, it’s set in a historical backdrop but it also focuses on family values.”

Delving into such a deep subject matter has been no issue for the 25 students who make up the cast.

“It’s something that they all would have been dealing with in history class,” the Geography, History and English teacher explained, adding that it’s “great” to be able to see the students’ progress through rehearsals.

“It’s great to be part of this creative process to see how far we’ve come even now from where we were last September when all the fresh faces walked through the doors and auditions were starting.

“We get a wide array of talent, which is brought to the school, and it’s great to see,” he said, adding that the students, unknown to each other before, have become very close over the past few months.

“One of the great things is that you can see friendships that bond throughout the whole process,” he explained.

“That’s the beauty of doing events like this, you get people together, they have a shared interest and shared talent and friendships grow from there.”

These sentiments were echoed when the students spoke to the Celt of their experience.

Royal School Cavan Student Savannah Leroux, who plays one of the party goers said rehearsals are going “amazing” and are “really fun”.

She enjoys the “social part of it and getting to know people and making new friends”.

Estere Martinsone from Breifne College Cavan also “really” enjoys the social element of performing in the play. She is also a party goer.

St Patrick’s College student Eoín Smith plays the father role, Boyle.

“It’s just amazing overall, just to be part of this experience.”

He said their performance has “changed a lot in a good way” since they first began rehearsals.

“With constructive criticism, own self reflection and just overall help from the entire cast, from Mr Monahan, from Gwen and Mr Tackney it’s just been a great experience.”

He said the story that runs through the play is “fascinating”.

“It’s great to know about it and the events that happened with Ireland,” he surmised.

Áine McGibney, who is a student at Loreto College, plays the role of Mrs Madigan, who is the neighbour of the family.

She said rehearsals are “amazing”.

“It’s really just one big family,” she said.

“We all have fierce craic in there sitting in front, watching everyone else act, having the laugh, it’s just brilliant.

“I’ve always loved acting and when I got the opportunity in September, I said ‘Ah sure why not!’ There’s nothing to lose in doing it and I’ve met some amazing people through it.”

Deputy principal and director Gwen Brady said “it’s going brilliantly”.

“They’re [the students] very hard working and absolutely a pleasure to work with so we’re having great times.”

Mr Monahan said those hoping to attend “can be guaranteed of a night of entertainment, of music and drama that will hopefully bring them [the audience] through a range of emotions from laughter to sadness and so on”.