Humanity and hope in 'The Loved Ones'

For proof that tenacity and dedication bring dividends, look no further than playwright Erica Murray, whose drama, The Loved Ones, is being staged at Galway’s Black Box Theatre this Friday and Saturday, May 2 and 3.

A co-production between Rough Magic and the Gate Theatres, The Loved Ones is currently on a national tour having premiered at the 2023 Dublin Theatre Festival.

It’s a four-hander, with an all-female cast that includes Jane Brennan who was most recently seen on RTÉ’s Hidden Assets. Jane has been a familiar face in Galway for many years, mostly through her many productions with Druid Theatre.

The Loved Ones is set in West Clare, in a remote renovated farmhouse, where the central character Nell (Jane), who runs an Airbnb-style operation, is preparing to scatter her son’s ashes, along with her grieving daughter-in-law, Orla (Margaret McAuliffe).

Meanwhile, US visitor Cheryl-Ann (Helen Norton) is hoping for an idyllic break in this beautiful, wild place.

However, their weekend plans are upended with the arrival of an unexpected guest, Gabby, (Fanta Barry) who is seeking shelter, solace and understanding.

“Nell has three people staying when she only expected one,” says Erica of the play, which is directed by Ronan Phelan. Filled with hope, humour and humanity, it deals with a situation that leaves the four women’s lives reeling, as they question the true nature of love, loss and birds.

“I imagine it as Liscannor,” says Erica of the location. “I know Liscannor gets a lot of visitors from Ireland and elsewhere but it is a beautiful part of the world with a very dramatic landscape.”

When there’s a mix of sun and rain, as often happens in the West of Ireland, “the way the light works is very beautiful,” says the Limerick playwright.

“It changes quickly and what’s happening with the light outside reflects the atmosphere of the play.”

Originally from Adare, Erica studied Drama and Theatre at Trinity College and, for a while, thought she wanted to be an actor. However, she went on to do a Master’s in playwriting at the Lir Academy in Trinity, after which she lived and worked in London for a time.

Writing for theatre is a notoriously difficult profession, but when she returned to Ireland, Erica carried on, staging rehearsed readings and plays in venues around Dublin, and at events such as the Fringe Festival there.

Her play, The Cat’s Mother, toured to London, Edinburgh and Dublin Fringe, where it won the Fishamble Award for Best New Writing and was subsequently nominated for the Stewart Parker Award. In 2019, Erica was the Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre which produced her second show, All Mod Cons.

This co-production of The Loved Ones by the Gate and Rough Magic and its current tour, has been her biggest production to date and she says both companies “have been brilliant”.

Pictured: Jane Brennan, Helen Norton and Fanta Barrie in the show, which has an all-women cast.