Newpoint Players
present


In the Shadow of the Glen: Re-Imagined

by Sean Treanor

(After J.M. Synge's original)

Tuesday,

5 March 2024

8.00 p.m.




Important: The theatre doors will close strictly at 8.00!
Please be seated by 7.50.

(Please note: no food or drink will be allowed in the theatre during any performance, as this is a competition.)



The Play

The play, “In the Shadow of the Glen”, written by J.M. Synge and performed in the first days of the Abbey Theatre Dublin, tells the story of an unfaithful wife Nora, married to an aged man Dan Burke. The story follows a pattern which would be commonplace in classical medieval literature: the wronged husband tricks his wife into revealing her true feelings and her ambitions for when she will be a widow. The original narrative also introduces Nora’s possible new lover Michael Dara and a Tramp, a man of wisdom and a rather fatalistic character, who being an outsider, can take a dispassionate view of the domestic conflict and of the world. Several characters, including Nora’s lover Patch Darcy and a local crone Peggy Cavanagh are mentioned in the original but do not appear onstage. In this reimagined version, Sean Treanor creates Mad Patch and Peggy (now a Sheela na Gig) onstage, he rewrites the role of the Tramp and he develops a relationship between the Tramp and Peggy. He also explores the themes of earthy, ‘animal passions’ and the turbulent underbelly of life and Nature, which can be detected in the subtext of Synge’s original and in Synge’s better known play, “The Playboy of the Western World”


The Cast

Nora Burke

Pauline Lynch

Daniel Burke

Mickey Brannigan

Barney Mulligan

Lowry Hodgett

Peggy Cavanagh

Frances Morgan

Patch Darcy

Cormac Begley

Michael Dara

Matt Freeman / Peter Havern

Matt Freeman

Understudy / Michael Dara

Donal O'Hanlon

Understudy


Crew

Director / Writer

Sean Treanor

Assistant Director

Pauline Lynch

Choreographer

Leo Reynolds

Assistant Choreographer

Aveen Stewart

Director Music / Percussion

Fergal O'Brien

Lighting Design

Declan McConaghy

Technical Advisor

Mark Hughes

Set Design

Mary Goss

Set Construction / Transport

Tom Carvill

Sound Recording

Declan McConaghy

Masks

Alison Rodgers

Costumes

Bernie McParland

Group Chairman / Manager

Donal O'Hanlon

Stage Management

Leo Hayes
John Linden
Oisin O'Hanlon

Makeup

Siobhan Caraher



The Group

Newpoint Players was founded in 1948. The name reflects the fact that at that time the actors came from Newry and Warrenpoint. From the beginning the group participated in the Festival Movement. Newpoint won the All-Ireland in 1958 with Arms and the Man, in 1961 with Our Town and in 1992 with Marat Sade. The late Seamus Mallon, renowned politician, directed the 1961 production. There has seldom been a year when Newpoint did not win a number of festivals and the group have made regular appearances in the Athlone Finals. Last Year’s production “Happy Days” was acclaimed in Athlone and later won the British Finals in Coventry. The group believes in breaking new ground. In recent years many of our festival plays have been written by Sean Treanor, our Artistic Director. Anthony Russell has written national and international touring plays on historical issues, with Donal O’Hanlon as director. The group produces an annual Youth Show since that tradition was initiated by Sean Hollywood more than 40 years ago. The youth initiative has produced many theatre and media professionals including John Lynch, Susan Lynch, Mairead McKinley, David Pearse, Eugene O’Hare, Dearbhail McDonald, and many accomplished technical and lighting professionals working with RTE, BBC, and in film. 2024 sees Newpoint present another challenging inhouse festival production. We can only hope that it strikes a chord.