'When I asked the audience what they would like to see when the theatre reopened after the lockdown, their resounding response was John B. Keane...' Sophie Motely, Artistic Director at The Everyman in Cork, introduces their new production of The Letters of A Country Postman.
John B. Keane is a household name, particularly for the elders of our families, our communities, and those who have a connection to amateur drama.
I've seen a number of the more well-known plays, but always thought of them as 'old hat’ or less relevant to me as a contemporary, theatre-hungry young artist. I was interested in the characters, but they were ordinary and often over expressed or hammy in their performance. They were often set in the past, although often the language feels universal and crosses time.
On starting my role as Artistic Director at The Everyman in Cork, when I asked the audience what they would like to see when the theatre reopened after the lockdown, their resounding response was John B. Keane. So, I went back to the plays. They are big, epic pieces, which had very large cast numbers for a theatre crawling its way out of 2 years of closure. Impossible to afford with uncertain finances. Undeterred, I went further, into the novellas, to see if anything could be adapted.
What I love about John B is that he tells extraordinary stories of ordinary people.
The Letters of A Country Postman grabbed me because, regardless of time, genre, or place, we all have a connection to the person who delivers the post. During the last two plague-ridden years, I think anyone living in a rural place has had a deeper connection to the person delivering their post, their Amazon delivery, their DPD driver. We relied on them for news, for something to happen in our lonesome days. Here, we have contemporary relevance.
Letters of a Country Postman (Pic: Marcin Lewandowski)
And this is where John B comes in. The letters not only foretell a return to the reliance on the post, as well as our connection via zoom drinks, WhatsApp video dinners, Snapchat, and more importantly via the free An Post cards that we were encouraged to send to our loved ones. John B. Keane had the foresight in this 1977 novella to explore the notions of women’s sexual liberation and reproductive rights. He presents sex-positive female characters who know exactly what they want. He tells stories of climate change, the rivers becoming ‘dirtier and snaggier’ each year, so that the Atlantic salmon will not return. He explores the precursor to internet trolling, the Anonymous Letter Writer, and very clearly points out flaws in the Social Welfare system which did not protect women who had been abandoned by their husbands. Most thrillingly, he explores humility, and empathy for a community through his focal character, postman Mocky Fondoo.
Last night's opening of John B. keane’s Letters of a Country Postman @EverymanCork was a joy. With laughter & glorious trad music throughout, be ready for a vibrant, hilarious & heartfelt evening with lots of surprises & a finale so uplifting you’ll be singing the whole way home! pic.twitter.com/0VoUI8zSsm
— Deborah Hickey 🐝 (@DeborahHickey) August 11, 2022
What I love about John B is that he tells extraordinary stories of ordinary people. People that even today, we feel we know, when we hear them speak. The language is exquisite and frozen in time, yet it is also playful, bold, contemporary, and impeccably timed.
My intention with the production of Letters of A Country Postman was to bring a contemporary relevance and theatrical presence to these stories that have remained on bookshelves as a novella, to actively encourage an audience to write letters to each other again; to recognise and remember the power of the written word. To work with exceptional contemporary theatre designers. And, to have a bit of craic in the process.
The production that we have created does that, in my opinion. I truly believe that you don’t need a hackneyed picture of 1970s rural Ireland; if you create instead a space for an audience to imagine a rural community, then their imaginations will transform the stories to a place which represents their own context.
And lest we not forget, the village of Lisnacoo, which is the focal point of this production, and these letters, is in Kerry. So, where does the essential authenticity of place, land, and the bones of belonging come from in a production presented in Cork City? My answer: the 100-year-old accordion of Danny O’ Mahony, born not 8 miles from Keane country, in Ballyduff, Co. Kerry. Almost every tune Danny plays in the show is from the North Kerry tradition, the musical language of place which enables the production to step further away, into the realm of imagining the future of these characters in a contemporary way.
We’ve all felt loneliness before, we’ve all longed for a letter, a text message, a facsimile, a Snapchat from someone that has not come, and this feeling is both contemporary and universal.
Letters of A Country Postman is at The Everyman, Cork, until August 27th 2022 - find out more here.
