Stags and Hens

At the weekend we launched the 2009 programme for The Devious Theatre Company with a wee session and meet and greet in The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny. Kevin Mooney made the announcement that our main production for this year would be a production of Willy Russell's STAGS AND HENS, which he will be taking the directing reins on.

This is one that I'm really amped up about doing. The play is just an actor's playground and Kev has put together a really diverse ensemble cast of which I am delighted to be part of.

The play is a very sharp comedy about the social mores of a bunch of working class Liverpudlians in 1978. It all takes place in the ladies and gents bathrooms of a dingy nightclub where both the stag and hen parties of the same wedding have ended up. And from there, things take some very funny, dark and emotional twists and turns along the way. It's a fantastically well written play, definitely the best we've worked on so far. Over the years it has been marred a little by successions of dodgy student productions which tend to play up the booze and debauchery instead of the story and character but we're intent on keeping the story to the fore. And it's a damn good story.

Rehearsals started this week. Lots of acting rust to shake off. And the Liverpool accent is a bastard. I sound like one of the Chuckle Brothers at the moment.

All updates on Stags and Hens are going to be hitting the Devious Theatre website as we have 'em.

Also at the launch we announced our involvement in Shakespeare In The House and nicely asked people for funding by launching our 'Friends Of' program.

More of which can be found over on the website. I'll write further about Shakespeare In The House as our programme comes together for it.

Dopplehammer

This is a little extra we've put up online as we approach the June 7th release of 'The Adventure Of The Hidden Microfilm'.

When we needed a movie trailer to be playing in the background of Tennyson's cinema trip in 'The Case Of The Poisoned Dates' there was only one movie star for us: Jason Statham.

We've had a long standing love of Statham. Kind of in an ironic way, but also in a way where we just plain like his gruff, ass kicking, high concept ways. Some legend is the Stath.

So this is our tribute to him: a fake movie trailer for a film called Dopplehammer. It features the vocal talents of Murt Brennan, Maria Murray, Eddie Murphy and Ross Costigan.

Trainspotting: The Cunt Cut

With all of the scenes for Devious Theatre's Trainspotting now gone online, there comes the turn of a little extra that we put together for the cast and crew of the production which ran in Kilkenny (nearly this time last year... time certainly flies) in June 2008.

It's the entire play edited down to its most prominent word: cunt.

Warning: Desensitization will follow.



For more Trainspotting videos, you can check out the Devious Theatre Youtube Page.

The Making Of A Russian Black Widow

We've just posted a piece about the making of the Tatiana Leeson character from 'The Case Of The Poisoned Dates'

Played by Edwina Whearty, the silent but deadly Russian mail order bride from hell was the last character we conceived for Vultures and undoubtedly, the most Russian of them all.

For information on the character and how we came up with her, please do check out her entry on our increasingly unwieldy Development page.

Vultures 'The Adventure Of The Hidden Microfilm' trailer is online!

The trailer for the fifth installment of Vultures 'The Adventure Of The Hidden Microfilm' has just hit up those interwebs. And here it is in all its Smith and Jones aping glory.



The fifth installment in our ongoing comic detective serial goes online on Sunday June 7th exclusively on www.VulturesPI.com

The press release for the episode reads a little like this:

"Entitled, ‘The Adventure of the Hidden Microfilm’, the new episode sees the gentlemen detectives of V.P.I. contacted by a mysterious fugitive on the run from the authorities. This fugitive is in possession of a secret microfilm belonging to the rival Pinkerton agency. Except he doesn’t know exactly where he put it. Although he suspects it might be inside him. And it could be a floppy disk or a USB key either. He’s really not sure. Can V.P.I. strike a blow to the Pinkertons before they’ve even opened? How do they get the microfilm from the fugitive? And really, who is this Natalie Blaise we keep hearing about?

All these questions and more will be answered and then asked again when ‘The Adventure Of The Hidden Microfilm’ goes online.

Vultures is produced by local production company Mycrofilms and has been funded and supported by the Kilkenny County Council Arts Office since it commenced in December 2007. The series wrapped in March of this year and the final pair of climactic Vultures episodes will go online in August. For all information on the show, please visit www.VulturesPI.com"

And there we have it. There's some really nice promo material, which I'm pretty delighted with, coming out in the next few weeks leading up to the episode. I'll post what I can here but as usual, the bulk of the material can be found over at the website.

Devious Theatre's Trainspotting

Here you'll find all the remaining clips from Devious Theatre's production of Trainspotting from June 2008. It gives a good insight into our production and the spin we put on the story. And of course, the word cunt is used a lot.

Tripping Out:

(This is taken from the chapter in the book entitled 'Strolling Through The Meadows')



Road To Nowhere:

(A particularly chipper sing along to the Talking Heads tune by Begbie and Renton)



Alison's Revenge:

(Taken from one of the book's most infinitely disgusting passages.)



The End:

(Not as conventional as a drug deal by any means. But it's got praying)