Gritty, modern-day Bonny and Clyde tale for GYT

National and international writers visit the Cúirt Festival of Literature every year, offering book lovers a great opportunity to hear emerging and established voices read from and discuss their work.

But local input is also hugely important in this internationally renowned event and generally it comes in the form of Galway Youth Theatre, which stages at least one show for Cúirt annually.

This year’s GYT Cúirt play is the Irish premiere of Yellow Moon, which was a surprise hit at the Edinburgh Festival four years ago, explains GYT director Andrew Flynn.

This modern-day Bonnie and Clyde story, written by David Greig, was originally commissioned by Glasgow’s Citizens’ Theatre, which has a wing for young people. It got a fantastic response in Glasgow, after which it went to Edinburgh, before touring the UK and further afield. Andrew first read the script four years ago and loved it, but it took until now to get the amateur rights to perform it.

“It’s a fantastically, beautifully written piece,” he says.

The story centres on Stag Lee and Lelia, two youngsters from very different backgrounds who find a common bond.

Stag Lee’s father deserted the family when Stag Lee was just five years old. Now aged 17, he is a troubled man who meets up with a girl from a good family, but she has her own issues.

Lelia is known as ‘Silent Lelia’ because somewhere during her teen years, she simply stopped speaking, says Andrew. A young woman with a passion for celebrity magazines she has a habit of cutting herself and is looking for something to make herself feel alive. Unsurprisingly, they establish a connection.

When Stag Lee gets into a row, where he fatally stabs his opponent, the two go on the run to the Scottish highlands to find Stag Lee’s father.

“It’s a play about a father-son relationship and a mother-son relationship and the relationships between people,” says Andrew. “In a way it’s like [Christian O’Reilly’s play] The Good Father where people from different social classes establish a connection.

“It’s economical and beautifully written,” he adds, explaining that Greig is an unusual and prolific writer, whose last 10 plays have been “fantastic”.

In the original Glasgow production Yellow Moon was performed with four people but GYT has increased that number and it now has a cast of 14, as well as live music.

When he’s selecting plays for Galway Youth Theatre, Andrew chooses work that appeals to him as a director. But he also has to take other factors into account.

“You have to select one with a big cast, and it also depends on the kids you have as well. For a few years we had people in the 22-26 age bracket and it meant you could do plays like The Crucible and Our Country’s Good. Now it’s more the 16-20 age group. We have 40 fulltime members at the moment and I’d say about 70 per cent of them are under 20, so it’s trying to find something to suit them.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.