The queen of drama

Giving up much of her free time is nothing new to Moate woman Jackie Madden, who easily dedicates six months of the year to various drama groups she is involved with, as well as spending much of the summer reading and going to plays to decide which ones she will stage the following year. Jackie's love of drama began during her school days in the Mercy Convent in Moate, where she was involved with musicals and drama, and in later years she acted with Moate Drama Group and Ericsson and reached national finals of the John Player Tops of the Town with both groups. In 1990 she directed her first play - The Field - for Rosemount Drama Group at the request of Hughie Slevin and May Fox and since then was bitten with the directing bug, producing numerous plays for Rosemount, Tubber and Mount Temple drama groups over the years. It takes up much of her time, but Jackie's passion for drama is clear as she enthusiastically chats about her upcoming play 'Caught on the Hop' by Derek Benfield with Rosemount Drama Group. "I'm renowned for farces and comedies," she told the Westmeath Independent from her home in Lakeview Drive in Moate. "I feel that everybody needs a laugh. 'Caught on the Hop' is about a married gentleman who meets numerous ladies on top of the 49 bus. He meets a young girl of about 22 or 23 and decides he'll leave his wife and move in next door with her." With the play being staged in Rosemount Community Centre on April 2 and 3, followed by a run at Tuar Ard from April 5 to 10, the pressure is on for Jackie as she ensures the cast members know all their lines, the set is complete and the seats are full on the night! "It's very time consuming. Once I get involved I give 100%. I get the best out of the cast. They say 'we won't be able to do that' but I say they can and when they get on stage they are able. I'm very proud of them when I see them," she said. Jackie explained that the feeling she gets when she sees the cast on stage is similar to the pride a mother would feel if it was their child. "I'm more nervous watching them from the back of Tuar Ard than they probably are on the stage," she joked, explaining that she was never very nervous as an actor but always is as a director/producer. "As a director I hear the music before it and I feel a knot in my stomach, much more so than when I was an actor," said Jackie. Admitting that she's quite the perfectionist and really pays attention to detail, Jackie said she doesn't like her cast to go to see a play that they are staging before they perform it. "I want them to develop their own character," she explained. "It's all about characterisation for me." She added that when choosing the plays for the drama groups to perform she selects a script based on the cast she has. "When I pick up a script and read it I never go by the set they give you, I can visualise the set myself and see the characters and then I'll tell the cast what I think," she said. "I'd go to a play and I'd be casting it in my own mind to see who could do what. I might just see something and decide who would suit what." The members of Rosemount Drama Group say this is Jackie's gift, telling of how she can visualise the whole thing from beginning to end and each of the characters' roles in the play, giving demonstrations to cast. And while Jackie, who works in Marks & Spencer in Athlone, works with numerous drama groups as well as acting as a provincial and national Scór adjudicator, the Rosemount Drama Group is quick to point out that it was this drama group that gave Jackie her big break as a director! As she chats with members of the cast of the upcoming 'Caught on the Hop', the camaraderie and friendships that have been built up over the years are quite clear as they banter with each other. While Jackie spoke about being a perfectionist and sometimes being hard on her cast, Hughie Slevin, who plays the fireman in 'Caught on the Hop' laughed: "We're still talking after 20 years, so that'll tell you." Liz Keenan, who plays the part of Mrs Puffet, the housekeeper, added: "We gave her the start!" Recalling that start this week, Jackie said: "I remember sitting down and thinking how would I know what to do. They asked me to direct The Field and I took to it like a duck to water. I have to say though about the Rosemount community, whatever I asked of them it was 'my wish was their command'. If I needed X, Y, Z they'd get it." And she met some fantastic actors over the years in the group too, mentioning in particular Tom Byrne who played the Bull McCabe in her first production of The Field. "I've yet to see somebody do the Bull McCabe as good as Tom," she said. "He passed away a couple of years after that." And while The Field was Jackie's first production, her favourite production over the years was another of John B. Keane's plays - Big Maggie, which was staged in 1991. She said she would love to stage it again, but the cast she has now is much younger than what would be required to stage Big Maggie. John B. is one of her favourite playwrights, as well as Bernard Farrell, although she tends to steer clear of his plays as the sets are complicated and difficult to work with, and of course Ray Cooney, pointing out that in recent years she prefers to stage farces or comedies. Dedicating much of her free time to drama, it is clear that Jackie is extremely passionate about her pastime. "I love it," she said. "I have to have the right script. I try to get as much comedy out of it as I can and that's worked so far. The different groups support each other too. There's a bit of friendly rivalry, but there's camaraderie as well and Rosemount will go to see Tubber and Tubber will go to see Rosemount." 'Caught on the Hop' will be staged at Rosemount Community Centre on April 2 and 3 and at Tuar Ard from April 5 to 10, at 8.30pm each night, with tickets costing €10/8. The proceeds of the first night at Tuar Ard will be donated to the Midlands Simon Community.