Kildare Arts Service : Introductions : Theatre intro : Eoin

Eoin Gannon

Eoin main 

Biography:

A jack of all trades theatre and master of none – has an Associate Diploma from the London College of Music & Media in Teaching Drama Studies and an MA in Theatre and Drama Studies from NUI Galway. He set up Crossfire Theatre in November 09.

He has worked in theatre on a local community level for many years with Newbridge Drama Group and Allen Little Theatre with roles stretching from Bartley McCormick in the ‘Cripple of Inishmaan’ to Curly in the ‘Country Boy’ to the Light and Sound Operator. 

He is Director of numerous school shows such as Little Shop of Horrors and Disco Inferno with Newbridge College and Presentation Secondary School. 

Co-ordinator of year long programme with the Maps & Mazes special needs drama group of Down Syndrome Association Ireland.

On a national level he worked as Production Assistant on the Irish Times winner of best new play – Noah and the Tower Flower, by Sean McLoughlin, with Fishamble Theatre Company.

Internationally he initiated the co-ordination of a Variety Project for the schools in the Kipkelion district of Kenya with the charity, Friends of Londiani.

He is currently producing, directing, & writing a show for the Presentation Secondary School students of Kildare Town, marking the final year of the school.  He will be operating the sound for Newbridge Drama Group’s upcoming show “Many Happy Returns”.  Finally he will be bringing the full version of Frank & Catherine to the stage of the Riverbank Arts Centre in February 2011 on Thursday 3rd, Friday 4th,Saturday 5th.

About my practice:

My work at the moment consists of teaching theatre, directing theatre, writing theatre, and producing theatre – eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping … theatre!

I focus on universal themes that can reach and therefore appeal to as many people as possible.

On almost a daily basis I work with people with Special Needs, young people and adults, who are all very enthusiastic about the practice of theatre.

The challenge to transfer this enthusiasm for the practice of theatre to the spectacle of theatre is a real interest and pre-occupation.  How to get the bums on the seats you might say!!!

Previous production

The first production of Crossfire Theatre was the fantastic comedy ‘Wonder of the World’ by David Lindsay-Abaire.  It focussed on the theme of relationships and specifically of marriage – pretty much something everyone can relate to.  It dealt with this universality in a very situation specific way.  Not the usual story was told; the wife leaves the husband over a very strange sexual deviance.  She meets a suicidal alcoholic, who has brought an enormous barrel to throw herself off the top of Niagara Falls with, so she becomes her sidekick.  It’s the usual told in an unusual way yet still appealing to a majority.  It is basically a well-written comedy and if you couple this with a professional standard of production you have something that you know a majority of people will want to watch and enjoy. 

Frank & Catherine

The comedy Frank & Catherine is a commentary on every day things:

The different types of relationships that we see our friends in. 

The reason why everyone seems to be plugged in on the bus/train.

The Potential possibilities that are always fleeting by us every second of every day.

Life!

Frank is just having a very frustrating day and is thinking things that he probably shouldn’t be thinking – but that’s okay – it’s only thinking.

Catherine is a typical college student – full of the joys and insecurities of this stage of her life!

They meet?

My hope for Frank & Catherine is that it tells the story of two people and the immense possibilities that lie in their wake and people who watch it may start to grasp at some of those possibilities in their own lives – and go to more theatre! Ha!

Production History

Frank & Catherine has a pretty long history.  I started the writing process about 3 to 4 years ago under the tutelage of Mary Elisabeth Burke Kennedy in the Bank of Ireland Theatre of NUI Galway.  It was an okay 1 Act.

It, for example, in one of its previous incantations, won an award for, ‘Innovation in Dramatic Form’, from the one act competition in NUIG’s Muscailt Festival.  So I knew that there was something there to work on.  It just took a bit of time to work it out.

 Developing the full length version went a bit like this: I’d write it for a few months – not like what happened – leave it – rip it up and start again – rinse and repeat!  There are several different versions floating around my computer at the moment – all unsatisfactory conclusions unfortunately.

The satisfactory conclusion has now been reached, I think!!  This process began on the meeting of actor Allan Clarke during another production.  He read a bit of the part of Frank.  Then after a few more rewrites with Allen in mind Franks character began to blossom.  The strength of both characters in this play is the strength of the play!

Now, I feel that it has worked itself out and what we’re left with is a very interesting commentary on what we know as: the relationship, – the driving force behind most of human activity and how we sometimes might trick ourselves into thinking we got it when we don’t!

P.S. You won’t get this from the first ten minutes of it of course so you’ll just have to come to the full version when staged in February!

Links:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Newbridge-Ireland/Cross-Fire-Theatre/198932725821
 
http://www.myspace.com/549113649
 
http://twitter.com/#!/Crossfireth8tre

Images:

'Wonder of the World'

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crossfire