Black comedy explores ‘modern open marriage’

Inverin woman Mairéad Folan was an undergraduate student at NUIG when she first encountered the work of Italian playwright Dario Fo.

Studying his plays and writing about them for a module on 20th century drama led her to become a fan, particularly of his black comedy The Open Couple, which Nobel laureate, Fo, co-wrote with his wife, Franca Rame.

This three-hander from 1983, explores the sexual politics of a ‘modern marriage’. Mairéad first produced it for with DramSoc while she was at NUIG and realised then that it was a perfect production to stage professionally, because of its small cast and its blackly comic elements, which would resonate with Irish audiences.

After completing a Masters in Drama and Theatre in NUIG followed by an M Litt based on the development of Irish language theatre in the West of Ireland from 2005-13, Mairéad set up NoRopes. This theatre company aims to present little-known or neglected plays in a fresh way.

And it’s no surprise that the first play she decided to stage as Artistic Director of NoRopes was The Open Couple.

In the Spring of 2015, Mairéad and NoRopes raised more than €2,500 via the Fund it website for a production in the Town Hall Theatre’s studio space – that was staged in August.

Friends and colleagues from the theatre scene in Galway supported NoRopes by giving their expertise for free and the production was a success.

“It sold out before the run even began and Fergal McGrath of the Town Hall advised us to bring it back,” Mairéad says. “And we also had lots of requests via Facebook and email.”

In The Open Couple, Antonia (Deirdre Bhreatnach) and her husband (Daniel Cronin) mix mind-games, miscommunication and emotional blackmail in a draughty, open marriage and the consequences are hilarious – albeit in a black way, according to Mairéad.

“This is a great play to do because while it has many comic moments, there is an underlying sadness to it too,” she says. “It’s filled with sharp witty dialogue, as it carries you through a bent reality of one couple’s fight for their own ideal marriage.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.