Kilkenny thespian makes his directorial debut at the Visual

One of Kilkenny’s best known actors, Michael Somers, has taken to the director’s chair in his biggest project to date.

Hailing from Coon in North Kilkenny, Somers was instrumental in the Michael Casey era with The Kilquan Players, an era where the group became one of the best known groups in the country.

The Kilkennyman was a member of the Barn Owl Players and trod the Barn stage on numerous occasions. However, The Steward of Christendom by renowned writer Sebastian Barry will be his biggest project to date.

All are welcome to Lyrath Estate for a sparkly start to the Christmas season in Kilkenny

Michael has also always had an interest in and a pasion for directing.

“Directing was where I wanted to be,” he said. “I’m a harsh critic when it comes to plays. But the person I’m hardest on is me.”

According to Somers, when it comes to local, The Steward of Christendom is as local as it gets.

The Steward of Christendom is a profoundly moving story of family, love and loss. The Steward of Christendom focuses on Thomas Dunne, loosely based on Barry’s great-grandfather, now confined to a psychiatric facility.

The play recounts Dunne’s personal and public life throughout the 1910s and into the early 1920s. Set in 1932 in the Baltinglass county home Thomas Dunne (Paul McManus), the last Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, looks back on his life as he tries to keep his ghosts at bay with reimagined memories of his daughters Annie (Michelle Phelan), Maud (Eimear Martin) and Dolly (Niamh Deay) and his son Willie (Muckalee’s Kevin Tynan), interspersed by interactions between Dunne and Mrs O’Dea (Georgina Brennan Stynes) and Smith (Richard Duffy), two attendants from the home.

History

It is a tale of family running concurrently with Irish history, spanning British colonial rule through to the early days of Irish independence.

When the county home closed in Baltinglass patients moved to St Dympna’s in Carlow, a place where Carlow Little Theatre rehaersed for years. Sebastian Barry has congratulated the cast and crew in staging the play in the county where it is based.

“I’m delighted and proud that the distinguished Carlow Little Theatre are tackling The Steward, and bringing it home to Carlow,” he said. “I do wish them every success and happiness doing the play.”

The play runs from November 22 to 25 at 7.30pm in the Visual in Carlow.

Admission is €21 and €19. For more see visualcarlow.ie