Great drama in Athlone tonight

Athlone Little Theatre is this year taking to the all-Ireland festival circuit again, but not just with one play but two.
This year Oliver Hegarty is directing two fantastic one-act plays for the competitive circuit. 'With Bells On’ is a heartwarming and poignant comedy featuring two great characters; Ted played by Declan Finn and Natasha played by Martin Kelleher. Yes Natasha is played by Martin Kelleher and boy does he look good in a dress! These two characters meet in a lift and Ted is unaware of Natasha’s secret but through their interaction and dialogue the penny starts to drop. This is a wonderfully written play and is full of comedy but it also gives a great insight into human nature and Martin and Declan are just fantastic in these two contrasting roles.
The second play is 'The Last Crusader’ written by Dubliner Barry McKinley and is a tale of espionage and intrigue set in a Russian prison in the 1970s. It opens with two priests Fr Meara, who is Irish and Fr Blake, who is English, as prisoners in the cell. Their interaction tells you a lot about their characters or does it? Meara is a loud, blustery, rude and funny man who seeks to shock the quiet, mild mannered Blake at every opportunity. His fond memories of Marilyn Monroe certainly offend poor Blake’s sensibilities.
They are later joined by a further prisoner, a beaten and bruised Russian local thief called Tomas. The last character in the mix is a strange albino Russian officer called Captain Gleck, who has a very sinister side. Why has this bunch been put together? Who is the real target and why? The story unfolds with some great surprises. John McGlynn and Ronan Flynn play Frs Meara and Blake respectively, with Paul Slevin as Tomas and Malcolm Whelan as Gleck.
The two plays are being performed at the Little Theatre this week and continue this evening (Wednesday) and tomorrow, before they compete in their first festival in Birr on Friday. Curtain up at 8.30pm each night and tickets are only €10 each, so definitely one not to be missed. Booking is at the usual number of 090 6474324.