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Tipperary, 1895. Bridget Cleary’s not feeling quite herself. Her husband believes she has been taken by fairies and a changeling left in her place, with devastating consequences. London, 2017. Hat is a new mother. She has a great life. So why does she want to disappear? The real-life tragedy of Brid…

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Abbey Theatre, Dublin

February-March 2018

Written by Margaret Perry

Directed by Cathal Cleary

Set and Costume design by Cécile Trémolières

Lighting Design by Paul Keogan

Sound Design by Denis Clohessy

Photographs: Ros Kavanagh

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Abbey Theatre, Dublin February-March 2018 Written by Margaret Perry Directed by Cathal Cleary Set and Costume design by Cécile Trémolières Lighting Design by Paul Keogan Sound Design by Denis Clohessy Photographs: Ros Kavanagh

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Porcelain - Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage) - Review by Frank L.

16 February - 10 March 2018

In the programme notes writer Margaret Perry states that she cannot get the story of Bridget Cleary out of her head. Bridget, who came from outside Clonmel, was killed by her husband Michael in 1895 who believed that a changeling had come to reside, at the instigation of the fairies, in her body. Michael Cleary was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to twenty years penal servitude. The case was and remains a cause celebre. Indeed "The Burning of Bridget Cleary" by Angela Bourke (2001) was "an invaluable resource in researching the lives of Bridget and Michael Cleary" according to Perry.

Porcelain is set in the present, also in rural County Tipperary, where Hat (Lola Pettticrew), a 26 years old woman tells her cousin Sarah (Caitriona Ennis) that she has ambitions to get out and go to London to pursue a career even if it is not that for which she has qualifications. Sarah is happy to stay put and accept what fate brings her. Hat leaves Ireland for a new job in London. She meets Bill (Ramshad Abedi-Amin) on a night out. They quickly fall in love and Hat unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Added to this story, which is the dominant one, are glimpses of the married life of Bridget (Toni O'Rourke) and Michael (Keith McErlean) Cleary. Dressed in modern day clothes their lives reflect the story from 1895.

Perry tells the tale of Hat and her relationship with Bill and Sarah interleaved with snippets of the story of Bridget and Michael Cleary. Perry was brave to undertake such a "confabulation"of time and persona.

The set by Cécile Trémolières was firmly set in a comfortable mode of twenty-first century bungalow bliss in rural Ireland. It contained, somewhat incongruously, a large, simple wooden bench which served several purposes during the play and the space was required to represent more than one location. It, in addition, had to serve as the site of Michael and Bridget's tormented life which meant the viewer had to make a great number of mental adjustments as the scenes unfolded. A sixth character was Silvertongue (Helen Norton) who represented a variety of incarnations including delightfully an over-the-top hairdresser but while Norton's performance was at all times intriguing the precise purpose of Silvertongue in relation to Hat's saga was far from obvious. The story as described by Perry was one with many fragilities. Porcelain, by its very nature is fragile and when packaged is often labelled "handle with care". Hat is filled with angst in relation to her baby. She is in a fragile state. The childless Bridget Cleary had her own mental turmoil. The innate properties of porcelain requiring to be handled with care are a metaphor to both mental states.

There is much fine writing and there are some very good scenes throughout this one and half hour piece. But the complexity of intertwining Bridget and Michael's story with Hat and Bill's reduced the impact of each rather than enhancing it.
Credits
Bill: Bamshad Abedi-Amin
Sarah: Caitríona Ennis
Michael Cleary: Keith McErlean
Silvertongue: Helen Norton
Bridget Cleary: Toni O'Rourke
Hat: Lola Petticrew
Written by: Margaret Perry
Directed by: Cathal Cleary
Set and Costume Design: Cécile Trémolières
Lighting Design: Paul Keogan
Composer and Sound Design: Denis Clohessy
Casting: Amy Rowan

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Porcelain - Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage) - Review

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Porcelain - Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage) - Review by Frank L. 16 February - 10 March 2018 In the programme notes writer Margaret Perry states that she cannot get the story of Bridget Cleary out of her head. Bridget, who came from outside Clonmel, was killed by her husband Michael in 1895 who believed that...

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In June 2017, the Abbey Theatre received a script for a new play by Margaret Perry, a 27 year old playwright from Cork. The world premiere of Margaret's play - Porcelain - in full production takes to the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre this February.

Porcelain explores the real-life tragedy of Bridget Cleary, who was murdered in 1895. The play weaves past and present, myth and fact to explore the parallel stories of two Irish women in a modern-day thriller:
Tipperary, 1895. Bridget Cleary's not feeling quite herself. Her husband believes she has been taken by fairies and a changeling left in her place, with devastating consequences. London, 2018. Hat is a new mother. She has a great life. So why does she want to disappear?
Neil Murray, Director of the Abbey Theatre: ' We are thrilled to produce this important piece of new writing from a brilliant, new Irish playwright. We want the Abbey to be a place that presents theatre of all forms, made by people of all backgrounds, ages and points in their careers. We have a year round open call for scripts and ideas from theatre makers that we encourage people to submit their work or idea to.'

Directed by Cathal Cleary the cast includes Bamshad Abedi-Amin, Caitríona Ennis, Keith McErlean, Helen Norton, Toni O'Rourke and Lola Petticrew. Porcelain runs from 16 February to 10 March 2018. For more information see abbeytheatre.ie.

Porcelain is part of the Abbey Theatre's Free First Preview initiative, where audiences are invited to attend the first preview of Abbey productions at no charge. See here for more details.
LISTINGS
Dates: 16 February - 10 March
On the Peacock Stage

Free First Preview: 16 February

Preview: 17 February

Times: Mon - Sat 8pm, Sat Matinee 2.30pm

Tickets: €18 - €25 / Conc. €16 - €20

Booking: abbeytheatre.ie / +353 1 87 87 222

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Porcelain debuts at The Abbey - DublinTown

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When: 16 February, 2018 @ 8:00 pm - 10 March, 2018 @ 9:00 pm Where: Peacock Theatre at the Abbey, 26/27 Abbey Street Lower, North City, Dublin 1, D01 K0F1, Ireland Back to Calendar Tickets Add to Calendar Add to Timely Calendar Add to Google Add to Outlook Add to Apple Calendar Add to other calendar When: 16 February, 2018 @ 8:00 pm - 10 March,[...]

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Theatre Collective Spotlight: Margaret Perry

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Empower Her* Voice Theatre Collective introduces... 'Spotlight: Female-Identifying and Non-Binary Voices in Theatre.' This is a new series of interviews, released monthly, to broadcast the emerging and established voices of female-identifying and non-binary creatives within theatre. Introducing Margaret Perry Margaret Perry is a writer from Cork, based in London.

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‎Making It with Temi Wilkey: Margaret Perry Talks About The Rehearsal Process on Apple Podcasts

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‎Show @@podcastShowName@@, Ep Margaret Perry Talks About The Rehearsal Process - 2 Dec 2019

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A young writer with strong ties to Ballymote has seen her play being staged by the Abbey Theatre later this month.

argaret Perry, who is a niece of former Fine Gael TD John, is a successful writer based in London.

The 27-year-old's father, Ivan is a native of Ballymote who married a Cork woman, the city which Margaret grew up in.

She told The Sligo Champion that having her play, Porcelain, being staged in the Abbey was a dream come true.

"I was working on it for about four years on and off, I kept putting it away and going back to it while working on other stuff.

"It's about two Irish women from two different time periods, one is Bridget Cleary from 1895, who was murdered by her husband as he thought she had been stolen by fairies and replaced with a changeling.

"The second woman is Hat, who is of our time."

Porcelain is directed by Cathal Cleary and weaves together the tale from the past and a tale from the present day, in a tense, harrowing thriller.

The tale from the past is that of Bridget Cleary - the last witch burned in Ireland - whose husband murdered her in Tipperary in 1895, believing that she had been taken by the faeries and replaced by a changeling.

The tale from the present is that of Hat, an Irish ex-pat in London in 2017 and a new mother, who secretly wants to disappear completely.

It is a dark and devastating tale that mixes myth and fact to tell the story of two Irish women living parallel lives years apart.

Its run at the Abbey starts this week, February 16th and runs until March 10th.

Margaret said a lot more time goes into writing plays that might surprise people.

"They do take quite more time, even though they can be short enough.

"I've written two plays so far and Porcelain has also been published as a play text."

She said her dream is to write a novel further down the line.

"I would love to write a novel or write for television.

"I'm working on a new play at the moment about the Irish water debate, I've got a few things in the pipeline too."

In terms of Porcelain, it's running in the Abbey from February 16th until March 10th.

"I'm really excited about it. I'm going over for the last weekend of rehearsals. There are six actors in it."

Margaret said she was thrilled when she got word that her play was going to be staged in the theatre.

"They told me at the end of October. Normally it would take a year before they show it but they said they were showing it in February.

"I had sent them the script and was waiting by the phone. It's all very exciting, my family are thrilled.

"The Abbey are producing it but I would love to bring it to London and to Cork, so who knows.

"There's a big crowd coming from Sligo, I've a lot of extended family there and I try and get to Sligo at least once a year if I can."

Margaret said writing was always something she wanted to do once leaving school.

"I always had a big interest in it and I studied Drama & Theatre in UCC for four years and as part of that spent a year in Berkeley, California, which was brilliant, there's so much creative writing over there.

"I did a Masters in Dramatic Writing too and have been based in London since 201, where there are definitely lots of opportunities.

"My dad is really good at academic writing, he runs Public Health at UCC, while my mum is a consultant doctor, so there's writing in the family," she added.

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A young writer with strong ties to Ballymote has seen her play being staged by the Abbey Theatre later this month. argaret Perry, who is a niece of former Fine Gael TD John, is a successful writer based in London.