| programme_notes_for_the_gap_year.docx |
Programme notes for The Gap Year at the Lyric Theatre Belfast
Intro
Welcome to the Lyric theatre for this heartwarming and hilarious comedy following newly widowed Kate, childminder-in-chief Roisin and their best friend Oonagh who’ve decided enough is enough, life’s too short and they’re going to take a gap year! Join the three women in their 60s as they go on the adventure of a lifetime around Ireland.
Cast
Carol Moore as Kate
Marion O’Dwyer as Oonagh
Libby Smith as Roisin
Sean Blaney plays the roles of Kieran (camp activities manager), Campervan man, Fionntan the hitchhiker and Ethan the drag artist.
Jimmy Doran plays the roles of Father Donnelly, Pat, Eddie (Oonagh’s ex) and Paul, Roisin’s husband.
Clare McMahon plays Caoimhe (the young mother), Josie the nurse who’s Pat’s daughter, Sister Thomasina, Alison the drunk party girl and Catherine, Kate’s daughter.
Characters and Costumes
Kate is short and has white cropped short hair and dresses casually. She typically wears trousers, a sweater or a shirt and a gilet. Initially she is wearing a long black coat. Later she is wearing a white shirt and grey trousers and on her trip she dons a bumbag, wears a long denim jacket and later a pale pink jacket.
Oonagh is tall and has shoulder length blonde and grey hair. She also dresses casually and wears clothes like a bright green jumpsuit with a long sleeved orange top underneath. On the trip she wears red boots, a salmon coloured cardigan, a blue coat and a floral scarf. Later she wears jeans and a grey woolen poncho.
Roisin is tall and has a blonde bob hair style. She wears casual clothes and is mindful of her appearance with coordinated outfits.She wears a blue chequed woolen jacket and rust coloured trousers. Later she wears a maroon mac and blue trousers with a blue top underneath.
Ciaran the camp activities manager is wearing a red woolen hat, a bright yellow t-shirt, khaki shorts and hiking boots with wooly socks. He has a phone pouch hung around his neck.
Fionntan the hitchhiker has a large rucksack on his back. He wears an anorak, jeans and a coat with brown shoes.
Ethan the drag artist is wearing a garish tracksuit that’s multicoloured, purples, oranges, yellows reds and blacks all feature. He is wearing a black t-shirt, a large gold chain on his neck and he has bright red shoes.
Eddie wears a long brown wool coat, pale blue polo neck and brown trousers. He has gelled back hair.
Pat wears a flat cap, a striped jumper and jeans. Pat has had a stroke and finds it difficult to get his words out.
Paul wears glasses. He has a blue jacket, a cream top, grey trousers and brown boots.
Father Donnelly wears white holy vestments with gold embellishments on the front and sleeve cuffs.
Caoimhe wears denim dungarees with a red and white striped top underneath and brown boots.
Josie the nurse wears a nurses blue scrub top.
Sister Thomasina wears a plain grey pencil skirt and grey jumper with a lace undershirt collar poking out an plain black shoes.
Alison the drunk party girl wears a silver sparkly long sleeved dress and knee high blue glittery boots. The make up on her face is very dramatically runny, she has huge black streaks running from both eyes and she is wearing fun reindeer antlers on her head.
Catherine wears white trousers and a pale green jumper with a black shirt underneath.
Sets
The sets are very simple and scene changes involve the cast moving pieces in and out of the space.
The back and floor of the set has a patchwork effect of bumpy stripes of colour that look like a countryside scene - a land of differing colours and textures. The colours and patterns suggest, grass, stone, carvings, slate, mud and water.
The platform at the back of the set is about 8 feet tall and here the characters can walk on it making it seem as though they are somewhere further away,in the fields or at the top of the cliffs.
In the opening scene, there is a sofa with a small coffee table on the left, a thin pew in the centre of the stage with two kneeling cushions in front and in the back centre a coffin on a wheeled trolley.
In the next scene Kate and Oonagh are sitting on the sofa on the left side of the stage, behind the sofa is a cutaway piece of wall and the spotlight is shone only on this part of the stage. There is a low coffee table in front of them. On the opposite side of the stage there is another cutaway frame dressed like a concrete wall that represents the outside of a house.
When the ladies are camping the set contains a board with a painted bush on the left side, on the right there are more boards that are painted to look like tents and there are two camping chairs in the foreground.
The bush is spun around to reveal a piano on the other side, and this is where Kate is sitting in the rec room of the campsite.
A doctor’s surgery is represented by a row of four blue plastic chairs on the left and a short counter in the centre back of the stage which has some leaflets and a bottle of hand sanitiser on it.
Pat and Josie’s home is depicted by a sofa with a wallpapered wall cut out attached to the back of it and an armchair positioned on the right side of the stage, there is an ironing board here too.
When Kate is in the caravan shop The set contains the back of the motorhome which is about 10ft tall and 8ft wide. In later scenes the motorhome is turned around and features the front with the steering wheel, the front three seats and the bonnet. Inside the driving cabin of the motorhome there are lights as there would be inside a car and these shine up at the characters like the dials in a real car in the evening. Behind the motorhome on the back wall 4 diagonal lights shine in sequence to give the impression that the ladies are driving and these are the streetlamps they’re passing.
When the ladies are pulled in at a petrol station there is a single bench and a red bin with litter poking out of it and in front of it.
When the motorhome is parked up it stays on the stage in its turned around state with only the back visible. If it’s night time the back window is gently lit, implying that a blind is drawn on the inside.
When Oonagh is in the bar, there’s a cut out of a booth, two bench seats at right angles and a round table. Just above the seats there are some small photo frames on the small part of the wall that’s attached to the back.
The toilets in the club are presented with a cutout of a sink with a frame for a mirror but it’s empty. The back of where the mirror would be is facing the audience, so when the characters are looking into the mirror they are looking directly out. The mirror and sink are in the centre of the stage and there is one toilet stall with a door on the right of the space.
In the club scene there is a small trendy bar on the left of the space and on the right there’s a cutout of a wall with a wooden fence and some posters on it, depicting a smoking area outside a bar.
At the karaoke, the stage lights go off and a large projector screen drops down from the ceiling, it’s the only thing that’s lit up and a video plays out on it.
When the ladies visit the monument it’s depicted by a tall stone monument in the centre back of the stage. The doorway sits in the middle of the rolling hills. The characters are able to go ‘inside’ the monument though a narrow opening.
In the foreground of the monument space, on the right there’s a tall stone of about 6ft high that’s standing vertically off the floor and on the left there’s another that’s lying on its side.
Production team
Directed by Benjamin Gould
Written by Claire McMahon
Set design by Stuart Marshall
Costume Design by Rosie McClleland
Sound Design by Garth McConaghie
Choreography by Paula O’Reilly
Intro
Welcome to the Lyric theatre for this heartwarming and hilarious comedy following newly widowed Kate, childminder-in-chief Roisin and their best friend Oonagh who’ve decided enough is enough, life’s too short and they’re going to take a gap year! Join the three women in their 60s as they go on the adventure of a lifetime around Ireland.
Cast
Carol Moore as Kate
Marion O’Dwyer as Oonagh
Libby Smith as Roisin
Sean Blaney plays the roles of Kieran (camp activities manager), Campervan man, Fionntan the hitchhiker and Ethan the drag artist.
Jimmy Doran plays the roles of Father Donnelly, Pat, Eddie (Oonagh’s ex) and Paul, Roisin’s husband.
Clare McMahon plays Caoimhe (the young mother), Josie the nurse who’s Pat’s daughter, Sister Thomasina, Alison the drunk party girl and Catherine, Kate’s daughter.
Characters and Costumes
Kate is short and has white cropped short hair and dresses casually. She typically wears trousers, a sweater or a shirt and a gilet. Initially she is wearing a long black coat. Later she is wearing a white shirt and grey trousers and on her trip she dons a bumbag, wears a long denim jacket and later a pale pink jacket.
Oonagh is tall and has shoulder length blonde and grey hair. She also dresses casually and wears clothes like a bright green jumpsuit with a long sleeved orange top underneath. On the trip she wears red boots, a salmon coloured cardigan, a blue coat and a floral scarf. Later she wears jeans and a grey woolen poncho.
Roisin is tall and has a blonde bob hair style. She wears casual clothes and is mindful of her appearance with coordinated outfits.She wears a blue chequed woolen jacket and rust coloured trousers. Later she wears a maroon mac and blue trousers with a blue top underneath.
Ciaran the camp activities manager is wearing a red woolen hat, a bright yellow t-shirt, khaki shorts and hiking boots with wooly socks. He has a phone pouch hung around his neck.
Fionntan the hitchhiker has a large rucksack on his back. He wears an anorak, jeans and a coat with brown shoes.
Ethan the drag artist is wearing a garish tracksuit that’s multicoloured, purples, oranges, yellows reds and blacks all feature. He is wearing a black t-shirt, a large gold chain on his neck and he has bright red shoes.
Eddie wears a long brown wool coat, pale blue polo neck and brown trousers. He has gelled back hair.
Pat wears a flat cap, a striped jumper and jeans. Pat has had a stroke and finds it difficult to get his words out.
Paul wears glasses. He has a blue jacket, a cream top, grey trousers and brown boots.
Father Donnelly wears white holy vestments with gold embellishments on the front and sleeve cuffs.
Caoimhe wears denim dungarees with a red and white striped top underneath and brown boots.
Josie the nurse wears a nurses blue scrub top.
Sister Thomasina wears a plain grey pencil skirt and grey jumper with a lace undershirt collar poking out an plain black shoes.
Alison the drunk party girl wears a silver sparkly long sleeved dress and knee high blue glittery boots. The make up on her face is very dramatically runny, she has huge black streaks running from both eyes and she is wearing fun reindeer antlers on her head.
Catherine wears white trousers and a pale green jumper with a black shirt underneath.
Sets
The sets are very simple and scene changes involve the cast moving pieces in and out of the space.
The back and floor of the set has a patchwork effect of bumpy stripes of colour that look like a countryside scene - a land of differing colours and textures. The colours and patterns suggest, grass, stone, carvings, slate, mud and water.
The platform at the back of the set is about 8 feet tall and here the characters can walk on it making it seem as though they are somewhere further away,in the fields or at the top of the cliffs.
In the opening scene, there is a sofa with a small coffee table on the left, a thin pew in the centre of the stage with two kneeling cushions in front and in the back centre a coffin on a wheeled trolley.
In the next scene Kate and Oonagh are sitting on the sofa on the left side of the stage, behind the sofa is a cutaway piece of wall and the spotlight is shone only on this part of the stage. There is a low coffee table in front of them. On the opposite side of the stage there is another cutaway frame dressed like a concrete wall that represents the outside of a house.
When the ladies are camping the set contains a board with a painted bush on the left side, on the right there are more boards that are painted to look like tents and there are two camping chairs in the foreground.
The bush is spun around to reveal a piano on the other side, and this is where Kate is sitting in the rec room of the campsite.
A doctor’s surgery is represented by a row of four blue plastic chairs on the left and a short counter in the centre back of the stage which has some leaflets and a bottle of hand sanitiser on it.
Pat and Josie’s home is depicted by a sofa with a wallpapered wall cut out attached to the back of it and an armchair positioned on the right side of the stage, there is an ironing board here too.
When Kate is in the caravan shop The set contains the back of the motorhome which is about 10ft tall and 8ft wide. In later scenes the motorhome is turned around and features the front with the steering wheel, the front three seats and the bonnet. Inside the driving cabin of the motorhome there are lights as there would be inside a car and these shine up at the characters like the dials in a real car in the evening. Behind the motorhome on the back wall 4 diagonal lights shine in sequence to give the impression that the ladies are driving and these are the streetlamps they’re passing.
When the ladies are pulled in at a petrol station there is a single bench and a red bin with litter poking out of it and in front of it.
When the motorhome is parked up it stays on the stage in its turned around state with only the back visible. If it’s night time the back window is gently lit, implying that a blind is drawn on the inside.
When Oonagh is in the bar, there’s a cut out of a booth, two bench seats at right angles and a round table. Just above the seats there are some small photo frames on the small part of the wall that’s attached to the back.
The toilets in the club are presented with a cutout of a sink with a frame for a mirror but it’s empty. The back of where the mirror would be is facing the audience, so when the characters are looking into the mirror they are looking directly out. The mirror and sink are in the centre of the stage and there is one toilet stall with a door on the right of the space.
In the club scene there is a small trendy bar on the left of the space and on the right there’s a cutout of a wall with a wooden fence and some posters on it, depicting a smoking area outside a bar.
At the karaoke, the stage lights go off and a large projector screen drops down from the ceiling, it’s the only thing that’s lit up and a video plays out on it.
When the ladies visit the monument it’s depicted by a tall stone monument in the centre back of the stage. The doorway sits in the middle of the rolling hills. The characters are able to go ‘inside’ the monument though a narrow opening.
In the foreground of the monument space, on the right there’s a tall stone of about 6ft high that’s standing vertically off the floor and on the left there’s another that’s lying on its side.
Production team
Directed by Benjamin Gould
Written by Claire McMahon
Set design by Stuart Marshall
Costume Design by Rosie McClleland
Sound Design by Garth McConaghie
Choreography by Paula O’Reilly
