The Craic Theatre: Back From The Dead

The Craic Theatre is back after a long shutdown with rehearsals in full swing for ‘Enough to Wake The Dead’, the first play at the Coalisland venue in 20 months.

It is penned by local playwright Catherine McKernan Doris, who resides in Australia with her husband, Martin, and two children, Christine and Michael.

Catherine was involved with the theatre, both onstage and in production since she was ten including a number of Craic productions back in the day. Born and raised in ‘the Island’, she emigrated to Townsville, Australia in 1998. In 2014, she began writing short plays and has written several full length plays.

Her work has been staged all over Australia and she has claimed several prestigious awards for her work including Best Production and Best Script for ‘Enough to Wake the Dead’ at the 2014 North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA). She also won Wild Atlantic Writing Awards (WAWA) for her short story ‘The Present Past’ while her play ‘Destined To Fail’ has been produced as a film, on release this month.

Oliver Corr, who is Arts Development Officer, at the Craic Theatre is delighted that the actors are back treading the boards. He said,

“Rehearsals are going well and everyone is looking forward to be going back on stage after such a break. This is a great opportunity for people to support the Craic Theatre getting back into action, as they have done in the past. The actors are very excited.”

The play is directed by Tony Gervin and stars members of the Craic Theatre Players: Derval Girvan, Joan Currie, Holly (Foy) McCann, Muireann Shields, Sharon Dillon and Mickey Carolan. Oliver added, “Although it is written by a Coalisland girl, this is the Irish premier for the play.

We are really looking forward to putting it on here”.

Encompassing both dark and comedic elements, it is set in the North of Ireland against a backdrop of The Troubles and centres on the matriarch of the family. Each person is trying to come to terms with the fact that all is not right in the family home; but they all see things quite differently and some see nothing at all.

A tale of love, loss and ties that bind, this black comedy is sure to resonate. After all, we’ve all been part of a family!

‘Enough to Wake The Dead’ runs from Thursday, November 4 to Sunday, November 7. Tickets are available online: www.ticetsource.co.uk/ craicartscentre