Interview with Breda McCann – Two Minutes – Civic Theatre

Interview with Breda McCann, writer of Two Minutes, running at the Civic Studio, Tallaght, April 16th to 19th.

Starring: Wayne Leitch and Breda McCann
Directed By: Audrey Devereux
Photography: Billy Cahill

I believe this is your first play. What made you decide to finally put pen to paper?

Well, I’ve always loved storytelling and I’m a creative person at heart. I enjoy being part of other people’s work as an actor and would often write myself as a creative outlet. Most times I would use it as a way of expression and sometimes to put in order my thoughts and feelings through watching other people’s experiences. I would jot down ideas and my observations in journals for the longest time,  yet I wrestled with confidence.  I found it difficult to muster up the courage to write a play.

A friend of mine was going through fertility treatment, and she knew I had been in the same boat at one stage, and she asked me for my thoughts and experiences, so I wrote them down to reflect in some way.  When I gave her the letter, she said, ‘Breda, you should write a play about that’, and this gave me a bit of courage.  So one sunny afternoon I took one of my daughter’s school copy books and a pen, and I literally put the pen to the paper,  before I knew it two hours had passed and the bones of two minutes was born.

What inspired you to write this piece?

My inspiration for this piece was as somebody who had struggled with fertility treatment myself, I knew only too well the journey it can lead you on and the mixed bag of emotions it brings, such as disappointment, desperation, anticipation, excitement, joy and happiness.  I found humor as a medicine in some ways:  as they say, you have to laugh or you’ll cry, and to be hones,t I did both while writing Two Minutes.  I reflected on the many times I would sit in the waiting rooms and observe other couples who were going through the same process, none of us making eye contact as the men waited for their names to be called to collect their sample bottles, red faced they would be lead down the corridor sheepishly by the matter of fact nurse as she reminds the poor embarrassed bloke when he’s finished to ‘place it back in the hatch as soon as possible’, she’s aware that there are more names on her clipboard and has a schedule to keep. Everyone looks at the ground when we hear footsteps walk back towards the hatch.

As for the women?  sitting tapping their feet and twiddling their thumbs waiting to hear ‘ the doctor will see you now’,  no red faces from them they’re all pale with the anticipation of exams blood tests and ovulation charts when they’re done what’s required some of the couples laugh, some cry some embrace but mostly they really run out of the place.  I would love to shout out after ‘the best of luck, hope it all works!’ but I never did,  you can’t invite yourself into these clinical yet intimate moments. I would just sit and hold hands with my husband until our names were called. So, to answer your question, my inspiration for Two Minutes is not just my story but parts of others who have been in the same situation.

How did this production come about?

As a novice in the production process, I wasn’t sure where to start. I went to lots of shows in search of someone to play the role of Billy, and I couldn’t find anyone I felt was suitable. I spoke to my cousin Celine Carroll, and she told me about a play she had seen called The Good Thief, and the actor Wayne was fantastic, so I sent Wayne the script, and thankfully he liked it and we met up.  Three pages in, I knew he was perfect for the role as Billy; we had great chemistry, and his portrayal of Billy fit to a tee.  Wayne introduced me to Audrey, who understood exactly the direction we needed to stage it, and with the wonderful support of the Civic, Tallaght, we were given the space to do so.  I am eternally grateful for their support.

Can you tell me about your time in rehearsals – how long have you been working on it, and has the play changed much in that time?

Rehearsals are a hoot for me, and I enjoy and look forward to meeting up with Audrey and Wayne to work on Two Minutes. I feel we have developed a friendship. We all have day jobs, so getting into character is a wonderful form of escapism. Billy and Trish are great fun to play,  they are mad about each other as well as with each other, but the love and the humour are the foundation on which they build their relationship.  Audrey’s direction and mine and Wayne’s chemistry as Billy and Trish make the rehearsals a pleasure. I’m so lucky to have them show the same enthusiasm as I do for this personal story and to be engaged by the sense of humor that it carries.

We first staged Two Minutes back in 2020. We had a five-night run of sold-out shows and had plans to go to other theatres, which had shown interest in the play.  Then COVID hit.  We had to put it on the back burner, however, we are back now and raring to go.

Do you think you’ll write another play? Have you started anything else?

My latest work is a play called Yesterday Once More.  This is a dark comedy about a lady named Tina who has recently been given the diagnosis of bipolar one. She finds this news difficult to accept.  In this piece, we explore the many measures she has gone through to get well again. The journey will take her from childhood memories to hypnosis,  Elvis and meeting a Peruvian shaman with healing hands whom she meets on her trip to Donegal to take alternative medicine called ayahuasca.  All of this is under her clueless husband’s gaze, who is as lost and mixed up as she is.  Will she ever find balance again?  Does she want to?  Watch this space,  you’d be mad to miss it!