The next character introduction from Stags and Hens is that of the groom Dave.

Played by John Doran, Dave is the man of the hour celebrating his last night of freedom with his mates before getting married to Linda the next day. Dave, however, lets the drink get the better of him and descends into a drunken incoherent mess. Will he even notice that the hens have turned up in the same nightclub? John Doran has previously appeared with Devious Theatre in Cannibal! The Musical and was part of the Shakespeare In Bits ensemble last week.

Stags and Hens plays The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from July 21st to 25th and tickets can be booked on 056 – 7761674.

A new theatrical experience has been launched in Kilkenny by our friends over at Rothe House.

A theatrical tour of the 16th century house, situated in the heart of Kilkenny, is led by its first couple John Rothe and Rose Archer. Interspersed with bouts of their squabbling, bickering and romancing, the audience are taken on a tour throughout the house, learning about its history, its inhabitants and the history of Kilkenny at large. All done with lashings of humour and banter by the actors playing the Rothes. In fact, it could be valid to say there’s an air of Basil and Cybill Fawlty off them.

This new tour takes place every Thursday night throughout the summer in Kilkenny. It kicks off at 7pm every night and while they wait, the audiences can take in a complimentary glass of wine in the main courtyard of Rothe House (where we performed Shakespeare In Bits last weekend). The tour is 10 Euro per person with a concession of 7.50 and children under 12 are free. More information can be found on info@rothehouse.com and all bookings can be made on 056 – 7722893. For something different on the theatre scale, it’s well worth checking out. Especially if you haven’t yet explored one of Kilkenny’s finest buildings.

This is the first introduction to the cast and characters of our upcoming production of Stags and Hens by Willy Russell. And first off, it’s the characters of Kav and Frances.

Played by Geoff Warner Clayton, Kav is the chirpy, cheery one of the lads out on Dave’s messy stag do. He also has quite the artistic streak in him with a serious talent for redecorating the walls of Liverpool’s many run down bogs.  Geoff Warner Clayton has previously appeared with Devious Theatre in Smitten as Mark.

Played by Maria Murray, Frances is the best friend of Linda, the bride. Outspoken, ballsy and frequently chain smoking, Frances is the hen who makes sure there’s no misbehaving going on. Especially where Linda is involved. Maria Murray has previously appeared with Devious Theatre in Cannibal! The Musical, Trainspotting, Smitten and The War Of The Worlds.

The character panels are designed by our own Mr. Paddy Dunne and there’s plenty more to come over the next three weeks leading into the show. Stags and Hens plays The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from July 21st – 25th. Bookings are now available on 056 – 7761674.

Kilkenny’s most recent addition to the online press, Kilkenny Alive, has an article published today covering the Shakespeare In Bits performances and Shakespeare In The House festival at the weekend.

Here’s how it looked (photos by James Marnell)

To read the article in full, and check out more photos, click here to visit KilkennyAlive.com.

Dave and Linda’s Wedding, Liverpool, 1978. L-R: Kav, Robbie, Dave, Billy, Eddy.

Stags and Hens by Willy Russell will hit the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from July 21st – 25th. Tickets are now on sale and can be booked at 056 – 7761674.

Well, that’s it from us in terms of Shakespearean performances for the year, the curtain falling on the 2009 Shakespeare In The House festival earlier today. On behalf of myself (Ken), John M, John D, Kevin, Scott, Niamh and Stephen, a hearty “thank you” to all who came to see our performances yesterday and earlier today (Sunday).

Thanks also to Rothe House for hosting the festival and to Young Irish Film Makers for inviting ourselves, along with Cartoon Saloon, to be a part of the programme. Even before stepping onto what was a wet stage at 2pm (yes, we had to perform in the rain, such is the joy of an outdoor festival) there was talk of how the festival will build and expand for 2010. Time allowing, we might well indeed be back, but for the moment we’re going full steam ahead into the final few weeks of preparation for Stags & Hens at the Watergate Theatre next month.

I’m sure we’ll have some kind of photo coverage making its way to Flickr or here on DeviousTheatre.com in the next few days from the ‘Shakespeare In Bits’ performances. Keep an eye on the blog too as from tomorrow onwards we start to introduce the characters and actors behind Stags & Hens in the build up to the opening night on Tuesday July 21st.

If you haven’t booked your ticket yet, you can do so by contacting the Watergate Theatre on 056-7761674. The box office is open from 10am Monday through Saturday.

Once again, our thanks to those of you who came out to see our performances on Saturday and Sunday (we noticed there were quite a lot of you!) It won’t be long before we get to see you again!

Well, we’ve got the first of our Shakespeare In Bits performances out of the way. Given that it’s only a two day festival, we’ve only one more performance to give!

We had a 3:30pm start today for our show, the final theatrical performance of the afternoon following on those of Dreamstuff. Having spent the early afternoon line-running and checking costumes, there was no time to spare between the curtain call for the final Dreamstuff production and our own so we burst into life as their senior actors walked off the stage and burst straight into the heat of a perfect afternoon at Rothe House and Gardens on Parliament Street in Kilkenny.

Our lineup for the afternoon, which will be repeated tomorrow includes

• Caliban monologue from The Tempest
• The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s adaptations of Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Cesar and Romeo & Juliet
• An excerpt from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead
• A monologue from Hamlet
• Shakespeare’s Editor sketch
• The New Yorker’s Christian Bale rant ala 16th Century Shakespeare
• Some more monologues, culminating in an 8-mile-esque Shakespearean sonnet-off

It’s a fun, fast and action-packed tribute to Shakespeare in the region of about 40 minutes or so. Tomorrow (Sunday) is your last chance to catch it as well and in a change from today, our Sunday performance time is 2pm.

Our thanks to those who came out to see us today and we’ll look forward to having you there tomorrow (you know you want to!).

A sneak preview trailer of this weekend’s Shakespeare In Bits has just gone online. It sees the entire performance speeded up in all it’s fast forward glory. It was recorded during yesterday’s rehearsals by Stephen Colfer and was nicely edited together by him last night.

Shakespeare In Bits takes to the open air stage in Rothe House at 3pm tomorrow and at 2pm on Sunday. It’s all free so please do come along!

As part of this weekends Shakespeare In The House festival which is taking place in Rothe House, Kilkenny, us Devious folks are performing a 45 minute mixed bag of Shakespeare entitled Shakespeare In Bits.

With Stags and Hens being full tilt ahead, it wasn’t possible for us to stage a full on Shakespeare production so we decided to do something to complement the fine work that will no doubt be done by the good thespians of Dreamstuff Youth Theatre.

The production is made up of various Shakespeare related sketches (Shakespeare’s editor and a 16th centruy version of the Bale rant with William Shakespeare walking in front of the ‘cantelbras’), some Shakespeare based works (The Reduced Shakespeare Company, Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead), some devised Shakespeare pieces, some monologues and a whole lot of nice little bridging devices between. It’s going to be a crash course in Shakespeare for the ADD generation.

With a troupe of 7 actors (all well versed in the playing of Shakespeare), this should be a fast paced mish mash of a mixed bag of Shakespeare related hi-jinks. The actors involved are Scott Barriscale, Stephen Colfer, John Doran, Ken McGuire, Kevin Mooney, Niamh Moroney and myself.

The festival takes place all over the weekend and there’s plenty going on throughout the rather splendid setting of Rothe House for the duration of the two days. And it’s all entirely free! So do pop along. Bring rotten vegetables if needs be. Just save them for the kids.

Shakespeare In Bits will be performed at 3pm on Saturday June 27th in Rothe House and at 2pm on Sunday 28th.

Excitement abounded yesterday with the launch of this years Kilkenny Arts Festival. And for everyone in this parish the focus was on what the theatre strand would offer up. And it’s looking pretty damn good so far.

For the second year running, the theatre programme is being curated by Tom Creed. Creed has done some sterling work with Rough Magic in the past and is currently directing Dylan Kennedy in All Over Town which is running at the Project Arts Centre as part of the Dublin LGTBQ celebrations. As a director with a strong and varied CV, this years menu of theatre in Kilkenny certainly has a lot of variety on offer. It also shows that Creed is growing more comfortable in the role with a more eclectic programme than last years, dare I say, Cork-centric line up.

In what is a major coup for the Kilkenny Arts Festival, legendary theatre director Peter Brook will be coming to Kilkenny for the first time with a staging of Shakespeare’s sonnets with his collaborators C.I.C.T/ Theatre des Bouffes du Nord. It runs in the Watergate Theatre from Thursday August 13th to Saturday August 15th. Tickets for this one will fly out so it’s advised to book them very soon.

Lucia’s Chapters is being staged by the returning Mabou Mines. An exploration of the life and death of James Joyce’s daughter, this should be a sufficiently avant garde affair, with lighting and set design by Jim Clayburgh of the Wooster Group and a score by Carter Burwell, he of Coen Brothers soundtrack fame. It will run in the Watergate Theatre from the 7th to the 11th of August.

A bit of an unknown quantity on the Irish theatre scene, Galway’s Moving Still will present the masterpiece that is Samuel Beckett’s Krapps Last Tape in the Parade Tower on the 8th and 9th of August. An amazing piece of writing by Beckett, this rumination on memory, loss and self is performed by Fergus Cronin.

One of Ireland’s premier dance companies, Rex Levitates will be performing Unsung, a collaboration of traditional music and contemporary dance, in the Great Hall of Kilkenny Castle on August 15th and 16th.

To check out the full line up in all areas and make your bookings, please do go to the newly polished and relaunched Kilkenny Arts Festival website. August 7th – 16th is going to be a very exciting time round these parts.