What's On Tom? Productions

Saturday night saw me attending a selection of new short plays performed by the very able cast and crew from What's On Tom? Productions, headed up by Margaret Farrell and Kery Mullaly. This small production company, from Thomastown, Kilkenny, is a blessing for those new playwrights who are trying to get their work out to the regular Theatre-goer.
This year's show, Kult, fresh from a sell out night at Kilkenny's Watergate Theatre, saw 7 very different plays from those performed by the company earlier this year in 7 Deadly Scenes, a show case of comedy from some fine writers.
Kult brought new plays from Samantha Heaney, Tony Deegan, Shawn Sturnick and returning writers Gillian Grattan, Hugh Cardiff, John Morton and myself.
Samantha Heaney gave us some great laughs with Robbin and Lovin'. Samantha is a working actress with a love for writing comedy. Our cast for this entertaining piece included John Doran, aka Dangerous Dave a bungling first time small shop robber, along with Ciaran O'Dwyer and Rebecca Watkins, making this a favorite with the audience.
Next came Ashes to Ashes by Tony Deegan. A monologue delivered by Orla Kelly.  This vignette from the play Voices In The Park, pushed Orla to make a connection with the audience, as she remebered her husband Cyril.
Next came my own play, The Land. Fronted by Niall Sheehy as Paddy and ably assisted by Frank Kelly as Captain. This play centres around Paddy, a young man facing not only the fear of being alone in no-mans land but of what the land has done to him.
Perhaps my favorite play of the night came from Shawn Sturnick in his cleverly written piece, A Closet Flung Wide Open. This is the coming out story of a young man with a literary preference that he can no longer hide. Well delivered by David James Glendon.
Gillian Grattan gave us an insight into how to serve up revenge and make it cold in her No Room For Sweet. With a great performance from the cast, fronted by  Adrienne Regan   and supported by Mairead Forristal and their love interest Shane Connery.
Hugh Cardiff delivered a very strong and thoughtful piece entitled Same Old Scene. With a strong performance from Bernie Brennan, and recordings played as voice over effect, came a mother's memory of the loss of her daughter, I felt it carried on to long and while I did like it, I felt it  repeated its point several times, which for me took away from what was a very strong piece.
John Morton's play, Tenterhooks, from 7 Deadly Scenes earlier this year stole the show and as to be expected from a great writer came another highly entertaining piece entitled Denouement. With an allstar cast, Geraldine Plunkett of Glenroe and The Clinic and joined by Des Manahan, came a very enjoyble tale from the end of the world.
What's On Tom? Productions delivered another great night of Theatre and will I hope, continue to deliver more great nights over the coming years.
Well done to all!