Duiske Players bring “A Kiss on the Bottom” to the stage in Graignamanagh

The Duiske Players Drama Group are hoping it will be third time lucky as they prepare to bring ‘A Kiss on the Bottom’ to the stage in March.
Under the direction of group stalwart Peter Prendergast, the play was originally due to be performed in March 2020 and then November 2021, but like so many other events became a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, the production has been reprised and the full group are really looking forward to bringing Frank Vickery’s work to the stage.
The play tells the comic yet true story of how the three women in the hospital for cancer treatments must cope with the uncertainties of their health and with the inevitable secrets and half-truths from relatives and the nursing staff.
Marlene (Lily Brennan), the strongest and most outspoken of them, keeps the atmosphere in the ward cheery. Her activities add considerable interest to the hospital stays of her fellow hospital mates Lucy (Edel Bolger) and Grace (Stas Bolger). It is a first for the group to stage a play with an all-female cast with Liz O’Neill, Brid Moloney, Liz Whelan and Rebecca Murphy joining the three protagonists.
The group are delighted to welcome newcomer Rebecca Murphy who joins the group this year and takes her first on stage role.
“We have tirelessly worked on an excellent script to deliver what I believe will be a superb show with a great nights entertainment being delivered,” said Peter Prendergast, who previously directed the group’s box office hit production of ‘Lovers At Versailles’ by Bernard Farrell in 2017. He has appeared in many of the plays over the years including, most recently, Arsenic & Old Lace, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Sive, Not Now Darling, The Field and the 2019 production of Sharon’s Grave.
Group chairperson Lily Brennan added that audiences will be both ‘entertained and enthralled’ by this year’s offering.
The group boasts great talent in stage management and set design and again this year Eamonn Doherty and Mark Bolger are in charge of the set with Helen Kavanagh responsible for set dressing. Feekie O’Brien will look after the lights and Mark Bolger will operate sound. Bonnie Prendergast, Noreen Hennessy, Pat Kavanagh, Marian Kielthy, Edward Hayden, Paul Hickey and Helen Kavanagh will take charge of the front of house
The play will run in The Abbey Hall in Graignamanagh at 8pm from March 3 to 5.