Mephisto to stage new production of Eclipsed

This powerful drama was first performed by Punchbag in 1992 when it shone a light on on the lives of the forgotten Magdalen women. It won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival and was revived successfully at the Town Hall in 1998.

The production will be directed by Niall Cleary and the cast will include Teresa Brennan, Catherine Denning, Siobhán Donnellan, Caroline Lynch, Zita Monahan, Emma O'Grady, Margaret O'Sullivan and Liz Quinn.

The lives of the characters played by these eight women converge at the Magdalen Laundry at the fictional town of Killmacha.

There is Sr Virginia, the young novice who is shocked by what she witnesses and who struggles to obey. Mother Victoria is watching her, and watching everyone, including one of the penitent women, Cathy who keeps trying to escape. Nellie-Nora reads tea leaves and resigns herself to her hidden, limited life in the laundry. Meanwhile, Mandy dreams of marrying Elvis and Brigit fights like a tigress to find her baby.

That baby is Rosa, who traces her mother to the laundry 30 years later. By then the laundry is closed and dusty, but the wounds are still raw, the humour is still dark, the women’s spirit are still fighting.

Mephisto has been producing work in Galway since 2006. Past productions at the Town Hall Theatre include The Mai by Marina Carr, The Honey Spike by Bryan MacMahon and Grenades by Tara McKevitt.