‘It’s not just one vision, it’s five’

The Mariettas kicks off tour in Drumavaddy Hall on May 2

“I love showbands,” professes Vanessa Galligan without hesitation. Beside her Aoife Shalvey, who co-stars in a new production of Niamh Gleeson’s play The Mariettas looks less certain.

“I’d never heard of any of these songs when I started this production,” confesses Aoife.

The Celt presses, surely you knew The Hucklebuck?

“I’d never heard of the Hucklebuck,” she doubles-down.

“Wow Aoife, I look at you different now,” says Vanessa.

Man she’s out of luck. Or maybe not. Having different perspectives is seemingly the strength driving this production that’s set to have its opening night in Drumavaddy in the coming weeks.

The show charts the story of an all-female showband, an idea born during an idle shift in Jacob’s Biscuit Factory in Dublin in the 1960s. Filled with hits, The Mariettas promises to bring the magic of the showband era centre stage. The cast of five - Aoife and Vanessa are joined on stage by Louise Callan, Saidhbh O’Reilly and Eimear Gilsenan - play 20 different characters from vastly different backgrounds, including a quintet who go on to create the all female band, The Mariettas.

Life’s journey

“It’s the journey of them forming the band, how they meet, the audition process and then into the rehearsal process, then the gigs and some very, very unexpected things happen – I don’t want to give away too much,” says Vanessa. The Drumavaddy woman is the main driving force behind Pothole Productions which is staging this musical comedy that will, thanks to the support of Cavan Arts Office, take to the road to play venues across the midlands this summer.

“We have some hoighty-toighty nurses,” adds Aoife, “we are also playing some rough and ready factory line workers - and a rival showband, they’re from the North, there’s a group of teachers - we are playing daughters to mothers and mothers to daughters at times.”

With the audience meeting so many characters across the show, Vanessa notes how they came up with a unique approach to ensure the action runs smoothly.

“Our backstage is on-stage, so you can watch us transition from one character to another, and it’s all part of the production - so it’s not just a play, I would say it’s a bit of an experiment.”

Aoife agrees: “It’s a challenge as an actor because you’ve no time backstage to settle yourself, or get yourself in gear for the next character because you’re completely shifting characters throughout, but the audience can get a treat where they get to see that transition actually happen.”

Arguably a greater experiment is how the director’s chair is vacant. Instead, all five actors share directing responsibilities. All experienced performers, each bring their different talents to the role, for example, Louise is a dab hand with costumes, while Aoife, whose background is in musical theatre, takes the lead on choreography.

“I was afraid of there being no director cause it usually ends up in rows,” says Vanessa “but we’ve been working really well together.

Aoife notes the play’s structure helpfully lends itself to this quirky approach.

“There’s only a couple of scenes where everybody is on the stage. Most of the time one person has stepped out and they’re just taking notes and after the scene saying, ‘Maybe we should try this.’

“There’s a nice freedom in the fact that there’s no director, because we’re workshopping and we’re bringing all our ideas together and something different happens. It’s not just one vision, it’s five, and we have a really good respect for each other and we’re all listening to each other and trying every idea out, and we know when it works or doesn’t work.”

Would they do it again, the Celt wonders. Is this a case of directors be gone?

“No,” stress the two professional directors in harmony.

“There’s a fine line between having fun and getting the job done, and I think a director serves that purpose. Because you don’t want to cross that line and no longer be part of the group anymore, if you are suddenly saying, ‘Let’s get started guys’, because you become something else. That is an integral part of the puzzle that is missing, but I think we are filling it in very well.”

Vanessa agrees: “It’s huge pressure on us, I find. Even sticking to deadline and not having someone to answer to, there is huge challenges there. But what does work is we are using the best of our skills.”

Their considerable acting skills will be on display when The Mariettas is staged at Drumavaddy Hall on May 2. On this opening night they will have a special guest to launch Pothole Productions’ first ever tour, which then jives into Cornmill Theatre on May 3, Bog Lane Theatre on May 8 and Gallonray House on May 9.

Tickets available from ticketstop.ie, or on at the door.