Legal and societal attitudes to couples with intellectual disabilities (ID) are being examined in a new play being staged in Galway this week.
'Finding Sophie' revisits the captivating adventures of two young lovers, over a decade after an earlier work first introduced them to audiences.
That 2012 play, 'Sanctuary', looked at the relationship between Larry and Sophie, against the backdrop of laws banning those with ID from having sex outside marriage.
The Blue Teapot Theatre Company production was written by Christian O'Reilly and was subsequently made into a film.
Both fed into a wider discussion about the rights of people with disabilities, which ultimately resulted in the laws about their relationships being changed.
"The film was very well received and seemed to coincide with the momentum for a change in the law, which led to the move, in 2017, giving people with intellectual disabilities the right to have sexual relationships," said the Galway-based playwright.
After being commissioned by the Town Hall Theatre to write a new play in 2020, Mr O’Reilly said he kept coming back to the characters of Larry and Sophie and wondering if he could revisit them.
That journey eventually resulted in the follow-up play.
"Larry is now living with his uncle, but he finds a way to reconnect with Sophie. The question is will they feel the same way about each other, and if so, will a relationship be possible?"
Watch: Playwright Christian O'Reilly on attitudes towards couples with intellectual disabilities
The production reunites original cast members Charlene Kelly and Kieran Coppinger, two actors with ID, who are relishing the chance to return to the stage as Sophie and Larry.
"It brings back so many happy memories, of getting into costume and getting mic’d up and all the craic we had doing the film and being in 'Sanctuary'", said Ms Kelly.
Her co-star, Mr Coppinger, agrees, saying "it’s still a great feeling I get inside me, knowing we can do this all over again".
He feels the legislative change that came about since the first play is important.
"It means if I fall in love, I know I can do that… I can get to experience that. In many ways theatre has helped change people's lives."
For Mr O’Reilly, the casting of Ms Kelly and Mr Coppinger is central to the work.
"Key to this is the casting of disabled actors as the disabled characters because when an audience sees that and sees that they are just like them, with the same flaws, the same loves, the same dreams, the same frustrations, the same humanity, the same crankiness...by the end of the play their perceptions of disabled people can be genuinely transformed."
'Finding Sophie' runs at Galway’s Town Hall Theatre until tomorrow.
