New Thurles Drama Group production will feature at The Source next month

Thurles Drama Group will present Rathmines Road by Deirdre Kinahan in The Source Arts Centre from Sunday February 16th until Friday February 21st inclusive.

Please note the opening night is Sunday and not Monday as usual. Rathmines road will then go on the Drama Festival Circuit around the country attempting to reach the All-Ireland Finals in Athlone in May.

Due to the sensitive themes and language in the play, Rathmines Road is not suitable for children under 14 years of age. Deirdre Kinahan’s play is a powerful exploration of sexual assault and rape and the implications this has not just for the victim but the immediate friends and family of those connected to such brutality.

Sandra, played by Geraldine Delaney, lives in London, returns to sell her family home in Wicklow after her mother’s death. Sandra’s husband Ray (Derek Doherty) comes with her and an old friend Dairne, formerly David (Sarah Feehan) calls to say hello.

Everything is going reasonably well when Linda, an estate agent (Paula Drohan) and her husband Eddie, a school principal (Ken Murphy) arrive to discuss the sale of the house.

On seeing Eddie, Sandra recognises him as the man who raped her 25 years previously at a party in a flat in Rathmines Road – hence the title of the play!

In the play Sandra, doesn’t confront Eddie in reality, she explores a number of scenarios that she plays out in her head and the audience travel this journey with her.

As a theatrical device, it is an excellent way to forensically examine the nuances of rape and how a woman comes to
terms, if ever, with such a horrendous trauma.

Rathmines Road concentrates instead on the dilemma of coming forward. It is clear from the start that we, the audience, believe Sandra. But the story is strangely told. One reason for this, we come to understand, is that Sandra, like the playwright, is running through different scenarios.

Kinahan challenges the myths and stereotypes that are used to explain and justify these attacks. ‘Boys will be boys’ and ‘good girls shouldn’t put themselves in these vulnerable situations’.

Through the play, Sandra forces Eddie and his wife to confront his guilt – in her head at least, and challenge these baseless fictions.

While the theme is difficult and intense, Kinahan manages to create some very funny lines and fiercely humorous moments and like watching a Martin McDonagh play, you find yourself laughing at something that is ordinarily not really funny at all.

Kinahan also explores the silence and lies that often surround these tragic experiences.

Denial by the victim and the perpetrator is common and silence she says is often the ‘go to’ response of survivors, their
abusers and ourselves.

A must see play presented in Thurles for the first time and one that will generate discussion and conversations aplenty afterwards.