Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 5:00pm

Rosemount drama group ready to take to the stage

Rosemount Drama Group has announced that it will be staging a play the popular comedy "Rumours" in two venues in the coming weeks.

The play will be performed in the Community Centre in Rosemount on Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27 and will continue over four nights from Thursday, March 4, to Sunday, March 7, in the Tuar Ard Theatre in Moate.

"Rumours" is a 1988 farce by Neil Simon, a multi-award winning playwright. It is the story of four couples who attend a tenth wedding anniversary party at an upper-class house in New York. On arrival, however, the couples find themselves in the centre of a crime scene. The servants have gone, the hostess Myra Brock has disappeared and Charlie Brock, their host, is lying dead upstairs. An attempted suicide - or is it?

Comedy follows swiftly as all the characters decide that they must to do everything possible to conceal the evening's events from the local police and the media. The play has been preformed more than 600 times on Broadway, along with countless performances around the globe. Neil Simon's writing is unique as he surrounds the everyday frustrations and vagaries of life with his own quirky sense of humour.

"Rumours" was staged in Mullingar two years ago, and due to its great reception there the Rosemount Drama Society has been inspired to perform the farce. "Rumours" is as unusual piece in that the role of each character is equal; no one person holds a dominant role. The ten characters, four couples, a policeman and a policewoman, will be played by Liz Keenan, Joeseph Farrell, Eamonn Duffy, Hugie Slevin, Helena Keenan, John Keenan, Carol O'Brien, Stephanie Casey, Ashling Boland and Enda Murray.

The majority of the group have never acted before and this is their first time on stage. Director Jackie Madden certainly has her hands full with the play's three acts, but the performers have nothing but praise for her, saying she is incredibly experienced and that they are all very happy to be working with her.

"Rumours" is the first production of what the Rosemount Drama Society hopes to be a busy decade. The group was founded in the 1930s, originally to fund the construction of a church and football field. The group's activity levels rose and fell many times throughout the century, picking up significantly in the seventies and eighties after Liz Keenan joined.

Two plays were staged in the 1980s, as well as another bunch of performances throughout the nineties. "Rumours" is the first production by the group since John B. Keane's "Sharon's Grave" four years ago. The group is particularly excited about the new faces who will be starring in the production, and hope that this will encourage others to get involved in the group.

Liz Keenan is hopeful that the young talents will enjoy their first acting experience. She also hopes that the audience will take something from the play. "It is a funny, modern and light-hearted play. It is a play anyone can identify with," she says. "These days there is so much doom and gloom, so we just want to make people laugh. We want them to go home happy."

With a growing list of new members and six performances of "Rumours" on the cards, it looks as though Rosemount Drama Group have a busy year ahead of them.