Out of Print written and devised by Gumption Theatre Company

Gumption Theatre Company is a collaboration between a group of young actors. Colin is a young man returning to his home following the death of his Mother. She was an arty type and there are scraps of papers containing her stories all over the set and even the auditorium when you arrive. There are clothes-lines with more scraps of paper held up by clothes-pegs. He has come to sell the house and will have to clean it up. Colin picks up a piece of paper and then the story which it contains is taken up by one of the actors who has written the piece and that story is directed by another one of the actors. So it is a collaborative process between the eight cast members. No mean achievement in itself.

There were some lovely vignettes in the varied pieces: the movement of an old fashioned typewriter’s carriage was simulated by sliding a tap dancing shoe across the floor and being operated with the right hand by the making of the appropriate flick of the wrist against the non-existent carriage and dark burbling sound of a young man under water sinking as he descends further into the deep having been washed overboard. The stories do not have a common theme other than they were in some way part of the life of the Mother.

By its very essence the play does not have a denouement. It is a young man discovering part of his Mother’s existence. As the actors say at the end, her stories will outlive the paper on which they were written as paper disintegrates. The stories which they have related will have a life of their own.

Runs until September 6th @ Theatre Upstairs

COMPANY

Lauren Cardiff
Eilís Carey
Clara Harte
Marnie Mccleane-Fay
India Mullen
Barry O’Connell
Stephen O’ Leary
Dave Rowe
Elijah Rowen
DATES: Tuesday, August 26th – Saturday, September 6th

1PM Performances:

Tuesday – Saturday
(August 26th – 30th / September 2nd – 6th)

7PM Performances:

Thursday – Saturday
(August 28th – 30th / September 4th – 6th)