‘Laughing Wild’ - a Flashback to the 1980s from Nomad Players

NOMAD Players presents Laughing Wild by Christopher Durang at Birr Theatre and Arts Centre on Saturday February 22nd. Set in 1980s New York, Laughing Wild is a provocative and funny play about the perils and stresses of modern life in urban America.

President Reagan is in the White House. The AIDS epidemic rages. In a frenetic city coloured by increasing political and social conservatism, a man and a woman are trying to function. They look for the answers in different places from the Sally Jessy Raphael show to crystals and affirmations, but what they really yearn for is human connection. The play, which was first performed in New York in 1987, couldn't be more relevant to the agonies of modern existence.

Nomad Players are Maeve O’Donovan and Eilish Rafferty, two theatre makers from the Midlands who specialise in telling the stories of ordinary women who do bad things or make bad choices. Previous productions include Without Apology, a double bill of the Neil LaBute monologues Medea Redux and All The Ways to Say I Love You, and Invisible Women, a double bill of the Alan Bennett monologues Her Big Chance and Bed Among the Lentils. In this production, directed by woman Maeve O’Donovan, Eilish Rafferty plays Woman and Brendan Farrell plays Man.

Brendan Farrell has extensive experience performing on stage and screen from plays and musicals to films and TV series. He trained at the Gaiety School of Acting and Bow Street Academy as well as with leading individual tutors. In the last few years, he has appeared in the feature film, A Bump Along The Way, the comedy-drama series Harry Wild and several TV ads. He will be seen in the upcoming TV series Sherlock and Daughter for Hulu and is currently filming CBS Studios’ The Rainmaker.

Maeve O’Donovan said directing the play has been rewarding: “It’s fun, mad, ironic and smart. I loved this play from the moment I read it. We were rehearsing it during the presidential election in America and we could not believe how it chimes with everything that’s happening in America at the moment.”

Laughing Wild is on Saturday February 22^nd at 8pm at Birr Theatre and Arts Centre. Booking at www.birrtheatre.com or (057) 9122911.