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Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey – Teacher’s Resource 2008

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Juno and the Paycock

By Sean O’Casey

2008 Production

The Association of Regional

Theatres N.I. & Cork Opera
House.

Teacher’s Resource

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Introduction
This accompanying teacher resource pack is complied with a view
to offer extra information about this production of Juno and the
Paycock. It has a range of student worksheets with a vision of
placing the production in a learning context and an ability to reflect
and to build upon the theatre experience.

Included is detail from the play, its themes, through to annotating a

script and pictures of the model of the set featured in the
production. Additional information has been included in the booklet
such as the breakdown of what it takes to tour a production of
Juno and the Paycock, the director’s vision for the play and
biographies of the designers and some of the cast.

Please find enclosed on the back page a copy of this teacher’s

resource on CD.

We hope that you find this a valuable resource.

Judith Pillow

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Index

Section Detail Page number

1) Juno and the Paycock by - Sean O’ Casey 4 - 10
Sean O’Casey - Characters
- Summary of Juno
and the Paycock
- Themes

2) Production notes - Notes that are 11-15

intended for the
students to take to
the performance and
includes aspect that
they can work on
prior to seeing the
production.

3) Back in the class - Costume character 16- 27

and set.
- Annotating the script
- Exploring the text.

4) What was involved in - Cast list 28 - 36

touring Juno and the Paycock - Props list
2008 - Tour expenditure
breakdown.
- Director’s Vision
- Biographies

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Sean O’Casey was born

into a Protestant family
Born: and named John
30th March O’Casey. He later O’Casey’s father
1880 changed his name to died when he was
Sean. young which lead to
the poverty situation
that O’Casey was
raised in.

Died: 18th Sean O’Casey lived

September in the Slums of Dublin
1964 for 40 years

O’Casey first play was The

Shadow of a Gunman,
In 1964 O’Casey lifted the performed on the Abbey
ban on the performance of theatre stage in 1923. This
his plays in Ireland, so Juno was followed by Juno and
and the Paycock could be the Paycock in1924 and The
performed at the Abbey Plough and the Stars in
Theatre 1926. These plays are
famously known as the
Dublin trilogy.

O’ Casey moved to
England in 1926, when
Theatre Director W.B.
Yeats refused his
production of The Silver
Tassie in 1927 in the
Abbey theatre.
Other playwrighting credits
include:-
- Red Roses for Me
- The End of the Beginning
- Cock-A-Doodle Dandy

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Juno and the Paycock

Characters
Character Notes Notes

‘Captain’ Jack Boyle

Juno Boyle Jack’s Wife

Residents
Mary Boyle
Their children in
Johnny Boyle
the
Joxer Daly Jack’s Friend
tenement
Mrs Maisie Madigan

‘Needle’ Nugent Tailor

Mrs. Tancred

Jerry Devine

Charlie Bentham School Teacher & law

student
Two Irregulars

Coal-Block Vendor

Sewing-Machine Man

Two furniture Removal

Men
Two Neighbours

Source: Adapted from O’Casey: 1988: 95

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Juno and the Paycock

Summary
Dublin 1922: Set in the apartment of a two-room Tenancy belonging to the
Boyle Family within a tenement house in Dublin.

Juno is the long suffering wife of ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle. Jack and his old friend
Joxer Daly, spend more time avoiding work than they do trying to find it.
Jack’s unwillingness to provide for his family leaves Juno in a position where
she has to run the household, is the breadwinner and fighting a losing battle
trying to install morals into the household.

Johnny Boyle, their son was left injured and in a nervous state because he
received a bullet during the Easter Rising Rebellion of 1916. His nervous mind
set heightens when he learns that Robbie Tancred was killed because of
information received, information that Johnny had provided to the authorities,
betraying his comrade.

Mary has delusions of grandeur, it is through education and reading she has
an aspiration for better things, this clouds her judgment of male suitors and
she soon finds herself in trouble because of it. Jerry Devine, a trades- union
organizer was disregarded by Mary in favor of school teacher and law student
Charles Bentham, who would be more able to aid her in leaving her tenement
life behind.

Bentham informs the Boyle family they are about to inherit a legacy from a
relative. The family stretches their credit to the upper most limit on expensive
furniture and clothes while they are waiting for the money to come through.
However, the Boyle family learns after two months of this spending spree that
the legacy is uncollectable due to Bentham’s clumsiness in drafting the will.
Bentham leaves Mary who then discovers she is pregnant with his child. Jack
is horrified and wants to disown her, much to Juno’s anger.

The tragic tale does not end here, Johnny’s betrayal of his comrade is
discovered and Juno is summoned by the police to identify her son’s body.

Juno leaves with Mary to go to her sister’s house and to leave Jack to deal
with the situation he has created.

True to form Jack Boyle and his friend Joxer remain drunk while all this occurs
and return home to find no one there and all of his new possessions have
gone.

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Themes

War
Reality and
Fantasy

Tenement
living
Religion

Men

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Juno and the Paycock Themes

Below are some of the themes in Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey.
They are intended as a point of reference and discussion after seeing the
production of Juno and the Paycock.

Reality and fantasy

Jack Boyle lives in a fantasy world, spending his days drinking with his friend
Joxer Daly and avoiding responsibility and work at all costs,
“Mrs Boyle It’s miraculous that whenever he scents a job in front of him, his
legs begin to fail him!” O’Casey: 1924:79
It is only at the end of the play where the tragedy of his situation brings
him crashing into reality. Mary is pregnant; and he wants to disown her, he
has found out that the money from the will is not going to materialise and yet
he didn’t tell his family but kept borrowing unable to pay his neighbours back.
Jack could not cope with the reality of his situation which leads to him drinking
with his friend and remain in the fantasy, unaware Juno has left to identify
Johnny’s body and has taken Mary away from the situation.

Mary has delusions of grandeur and wants to better herself through books
and education. Her aspiration to better herself leads her to sets her sights on
a law student who seems to be an attractive prospect. Tragically due to an
error on his part the inheritance was uncollectable; he abandoned Mary
crushing her delusions of grandeur, and her fantasy of bettering herself and
her situation and bringing her into real world, making her face her situation of
tenement living and being a single mother in 1922.
“Mary My poor little child that’ll have no father!
Mrs Boyle It’ll have what’s far betther – it’ll have two mothers.”
O’Casey: 1924: 145-146

Juno is the moral powerhouse of the family and the only character who is
rooted firmly in the real world; she is practical, and logical. She is left to pick
up the pieces after their supposed inheritance, dealing with Mary’s out of
wedlock pregnancy, and being called to identify her son’s body. Due to the
fact that Juno wasn’t a dreamer and dealt with the harshness of her reality in
everyday life she was able to deal with all of these situations with courage and
strength.
“Mrs Boyle Who has kep’ th’ home together for the past few years- only me?
An’ who’ll have to bear th’ biggest part o’ this trouble but me? – but whinin’ an’
whingin’ isn’t goin’ to do any good.” O’Casey: 1924: 138

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Men

The men in Juno and the Paycock could be described as the catalyst in the
action ending in such tragedy, indeed the life of hardship that Juno has to
contend with. All of the men in the play are presented as moral weaklings.
Jack and his friend Joxer prefer to stay in the pub and get drunk as opposed
to helping to provide for the family or looking for work in attempt to get them
out of poverty. Joxer describes his friend as;
Joxer Jacky Boyle, Esquire, infernal rouge an’ damned liar”
O’Casey: 1924: 132

Johnny’s betrayal of his comrade by providing information leads to him living

in constant fear to the point he won’t leave the tenement or stay there alone.
“Johnny I won’t stop here by meself!”
O’Casey:1924: 71

War

Although the play is set after the Easter Rising of 1916 and during the Civil
War, O’Casey does not glorify war. The two most prominent issues he deals
are injury and betrayal, not honour and glory.
Johnny was left wounded physically and emotionally after the Easter Rising,
he also provided information about one of his comrades to the authorities
which is why Johnny now lives his life in fear of being found out for his
betrayal, as indeed at the end of the play he is.
By keeping the action within the play in the tenement flat, O’Casey
forces us to look at everything from a domestic point of view, therefore we see
how the theme of war affects people on this domestic family level for example
Mrs Tancred dealing with her son’s death.
“Juno He’s gone now- the Lord be good to him! God help his poor oul’
creature of a mother, for no matter whose friend or enemy he was, he was her
poor son.”
O’Casey: 1924: 116
Religion

Religion is a very prominent theme in the play. Juno’s faith remains true,
even when she has been called to identify her son’s body. She states,
“Mrs Boyle These things have nothin’ to do with the Will o’ God. Ah, what can
God do agen the stupidity o’ men!”
O’Casey:1924:145

Jack’s faith however may not be as true, when prays for his relative who had
died Mary corrects him
“Mary: Oh, father, that’s not Rest in Peace, that’s God save Ireland.
Boyle: U-u-ugh, it’s all the same- isn’t it a prayer?”
O’Casey: 1924: 96

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Tenement living
The Boyle family live in a two room tenement flat within a tenement house in
Dublin in 1922.
Below are some photographs showing examples of tenement housing in
Dublin.

Henrietta Street Henrietta Street ‘Church Street tenements. RSAI:DDC47’

Source: Unknown Source: Unknown Source: Census: National Archives: online
.

‘A tenement room on Francis Street in 1913. (RSAI, DD, No. 56)’

Source: Census: National Archives: online.

Living Conditions in 1922 Dublin were poor. Thousand of families existed in

one and two rooms within tenements. Tenement Housing came about in the
19th Century when the wealthy moved out to the suburbs leaving their large
houses to be rented out to the Dublin poor in much less luxury and in
overcrowded conditions.
Tenements in inner-city Dublin were filthy, overcrowded, disease-
ridden, teeming with malnourished children and very much at odds with
the elite world of colonial and middle-class Dublin. The decay of Dublin
was epitomized by Henrietta Street, which had once been home to
generations of lawyers, but was, by 1911, overflowing with poverty. An
astonishing 835 people lived in 15 houses.
National Archives of Ireland: Online.

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Production notes
Use the following pages to allow the students to take along to the production and to
take notes to use as a guide when back in the classroom.

They will be useful for comparison with other students, and as a personal resource for
the exercises in this booklet and leading to preparation for examination

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Set
Do a quick sketch of the set.

Annotate with design notes, colours, exit and entrance points and anything
else you think is relevant.

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Character Notes

In the boxes below write down words that come to mind about the characters
while watching the play. This will enable you to reflect on the characters and
performance and enable you as a class to share notes about how you saw the
characters.

Juno Jack Boyle

Mary

Jerry Devine
Johnny

Joxer Daly

‘Needle” Nugent
Maisie Madigan

Charlie Bentham

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Costume

Sketch the design of the costumes used in Juno and the Paycock as a point
of reference.

Consider: Style, colours, length of skirt etc.

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Lighting notes:

Sound notes:

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Back in the classroom

Costume,
character and
set

Exploring the
Annotating
text
the script

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Costumes and Character

Student Exercise

Based on the costumes in the production, in the boxes provided

sketch a costume for Juno and Jack and annotate the drawing.

Juno Description

Head and accessories

Upper body

Lower body

Footwear

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Jack Description

Head and accessories

Upper body

Lower body

Footwear

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The Set
Before a set is constructed it is designed in model form for many reasons
including, the director’s and designer’s vision to practical matters such as
ensuring the set will fit on all of the stages that Juno and the Paycock is
touring to, as some of the venues have larger stages than others. Below are
photographs of the model set before construction.

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Annotating the Script

Attitude Comparison Table

Student Group Exercise

It is important to consider how times and attitudes have changed since 1922
when the play was set and today, taking into consideration some of the
themes use the table below to compare attitudes. In groups of 4 discuss and
write your answers in the boxes. Fill in the last two boxes with issues your
group think are relevant to the play.

Religion

War

Men’s role

Living Conditions

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Annotating the script

Annotation is a useful tool for the director to write down how they
imagined a scene to look and it is a helpful resource for the actors
to understand how a director wants a scene to be played.
The following are some points to consider when annotating a
script.

What is happening
in the scene and Who on stage?
what is the
importance of the
extract in the What set is on
overall scene?
stage?

What props are

Characterisation
needed and how
– use of voice
are they used?
and physicality

What are stage

positions of the Entrance and
set and the exit points.
characters?

Execution of the
lines. Music and
lighting.

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Student Exercise
Annotate the extract below from Juno and the Paycock.
Extract Annotation
Johnny Is mother back from the doctor yet, with Mary?
Mrs Boyle enters; it is apparent from the serious look on her face
that something has happened. She takes off her hat and coat
without a word and puts them by. She then sits down near the fire,
and there is a few moments’ pause.
Boyle Well, what did the doctor say about Mary?
Mrs Boyle (in an earnest manner and with suppressed agitation)
Sit down here Jack, I’ve something to say to you . . . about Mary.
Boyle (awed by her manner) About … Mary?
Mrs Boyle Close that door there and sit down here.
Boyle (closing the door) More trouble in our native land is it?
(He sits down.) Well, what is it?
Mrs Boyle It’s about Mary.
Boyle Well, what about Mary – there’s nothing wrong with her, is
there?
Mrs Boyle I’m sorry to say there’s a gradle wrong with her.
Boyle A gradle wrong with her! (Peevishly) First Johnny an’ now
Mary; is the whole house goin’ to become a hospital! It’s not
consumption, is it?
Mrs Boyle No…. it’s not consumption … it’s worse.
Johnny Worse! Well, we’ll have to get her into some place ower
this, there’s no one to mind her here.
Mrs Boyle We’ll all have to mind her now. You might as well
know now, Johnny, as another time. (To Boyle) D’ye know what
the doctor said to me about her, Jack?
Boyle How ud I know – I wasn’t there, was I?
Mrs Boyle He told me to get her married at wanst.
Boyle Married at wanst! An’ why did he say the like o’ that?
Mrs Boyle Because Mary’s goin’ to have a baby in a short time.
Boyle Goin’ to have a baby! – my God, what’ll Bentham say
when he hears that?
Mrs Boyle Are you blind, man, that you can’t see that it was
Bentham that has done this wrong to her?
Boyle ( passionately) Then he’ll have to marry her, he’ll have to
marry her!

Source: O’ Casey, S. 1924:133-134

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Exploring the text

Character Profiles

Student Exercise

Ask students to write down 5 words which describe each

of following characters.

Character Description

Juno

Jack

Johnny

Mary

Joxer

Charles

Jerry

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Hot Seating
Encourage students to think about the characters and their lives.
Ask them to write down some questions they would like to know
about the characters and include them in this exercise.

Example Question

What do you
contribute to
Which member
the running of
of your family
the household?
are you most
Who do you reliant on?
regard as the
head of the
household?
What do you
think is your
best quality?
If you could
change one thing
about your life,
past or present,
what would it be?
How do you
What is your feel about
worst fear? where you
live?

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Improvising the text

In groups ask students to take one extract from the play: the
following are some exercises that are useful when improving text.
Showcase the work that students produce as an exercise to see if
the other groups can distinguish what part of the play it is and
assess why the chosen method is a good method to use when
improvising the text.

Some examples of methods include: -

Tableaux

Continue the
Stop action
Think!

Inner
Monologue No words
s

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Descriptions of Methods

Tableaux

Actors can be asked to form an image using the play text as

stimuli.

Continue the Action

The director allows the scene to run, and at any point they
can shout ‘Continue’ the actors then have to continue the scene
with improvised speech and action.

No words

Actors run the scene until the director shouts ‘NO WORDS’ then
the actors continue the scene without words! They can use
sounds, gestures for example.

Stop! Think!

The aim of this exercise is to stop the actor mid scene and
give them an opportunity to think about what is happening in the
scene. The rest of the scene can continue or the action can freeze
frame and allow this actor to address the audience with their
thoughts and feelings about the action which has happened.

Inner Monologue

The director picks a point in the action for the actor to work
from; the actor then starts this point of the scene improvising their
words, using description of their thoughts feelings and actions.

Source: Adapted from Boal: 2002

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Touring production of Juno and the

Paycock 2008.

Juno and the Paycock

Cast list

Performer Character
Garrett Keogh Jack Boyle
Brid Ni Neachtain Juno Boyle
Joe Hanley Joxer Daly
Diarmuid Noyes Johnny Boyle
Judith Roddy Mary Boyle
Gerard Jordan Jerry Devine
Stella McCusker Mrs Tancred
Noelle Brown Maisie Madigan
Gerard Howard ‘Needle’ Nugent
Ruairi O’Gorman Charles Bentham
Andy Kelleher Immobiliser etc.

O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock has 19 characters approximately

8 of those have little to say which is why in this production it is
possible to double up on characters and have one actor play a
number of roles.

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Juno and the Paycock – Prop’s list.

1. Dresser
2. Picture of Virgin Mary ( approx 400w x 600h)
3. Bracket with crimson bowl for under above picture.
4. Floating motive light
5. Small 1mt old iron bed with mattress
6. Blankets and pillow ( Old ticking)
7. Coal box
8. Enamel bucket
9. Enamel Bed pan
10. Alarm clock
11. Galvanized bath
12. Small plain table
13. 3 simple bentwood chains
14. Worn out easy chair.
15. Teapot
16. Frying pan
17. Books ( for dresser)
18. Long handled shovel
19. tiny mirror
20. Newspaper ( possibly Independent Oct 1923)
21. Small parcel ( Sausages) Brown paper, string, greaseproof)
22. Plates
23. cups
24. Saucers
25. Knives and forks
26. Poker
27. Walking stick ( Bentham)
28. Walking stick ( Johnny)?
29. Upholstered Armchair ( 1920’s)
30. Cheap pictures
31. 2 Vases with Artificial flowers
32. A lamp ( Upmarket) for table
33. A good table
34. Old attaché case
35. Pen ( fountain type)
36. Clay pipes ( X3)
37. Tobacco tin or roll for same ( tobacco in grease proof paper will do)
38. Gramophone with removable horn
39. Records 78’s)for same
40. Coat / Hat stand
41. Bottle of stout
42. Bottle of Whiskey ( Jameson)
43. Candles
44. Candle sticks
45. Revolvers, holsters and belts
46. Sweeping brush.

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The following is a list of expenses that have to be considered when

touring a production such as Juno and the Paycock.

Juno & The Paycock: Expenditure

Rehearsals

Performers Weekly Salary Subs NICs Holiday Pay Weeks Total

5
3
3
CSM
DSM
ASM
Subtotal £ -
Performance

Performers Weekly Salary Per Diems NICs Holiday Pay Weeks Total
5
4
2
CSM
DSM
ASM
Subtotal £ -

Pre-Production Costs - Production Team

Director
Set Designer
LX Designer
Production Manager
Costume Designer
Casting Director
Sound Designer
Education Officer
Administration (inc Cookstown Borough Council) £ -
Forum Costs
Subtotal £ -
Pre-Production Costs - Materials
Set Construction
Costumes / Wigs etc
Furniture & Props
Subtotal £ -
Marketing
PR Launch £ -
Artwork
Print
Educational Packs
FOH Display
Photography
PR Rep
Distribution
Subtotal £ -
Sundries

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Insurance
Auditions
Scripts
Travel & 16 people x 7 days x 7 weeks
Accommodation touring
Haulage
Subtotal £ -

Weekly Running Costs Cost Weeks

Production Maintenance: Scenery, Costumes, LX etc 8 £ -
Hires: Props, LX 8 £ -
Distribution 8 £ -
Travel 8 £ -
Haulage 8 £ -
Get-In / Get-Out costs £ - 8 £ -
Subtotal £ -

Premium Payment
Costs

TOTAL
EXPENDITURE -
Contingency 1.5% £ -
GRAND TOTAL £ -

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Directors Vision
Andrew Flynn

“To have the opportunity to direct yet another Juno and the Paycock is both
exhilarating and frightening. As a director I tend to work in an organic way,
through a collaborative process with the cast, creative team and production
crew. Thus, to outline in words my vision for any production is difficult. If I was
honest I don’t believe in the notion of there being one leading vision that
becomes executed. I believe that all good theatre is created between
participants and that if directing this production, that the finished product
would be one that is sculpted by all involved, that the design and rehearsal
processes are one of investigation. This I believe makes for better and more
exciting theatre. However, I do have firm thoughts on many aspects of the
play and production that may help to give a clearer indication of what shape
the production might take.
In speaking about production I do know that a production should be epic and
traditional. While it will have extensive use on Set, Lights, Sound, props,
effects, I also feel that it is vital that any production serves the play and
remains true to O’Casey’s vision and story.
The play works best as O’Casey intended it. Therefore the production I would
like to mount would be very definitely set in 1922. The production would show
the danger of a country torn apart by civil war, a country that saw families
divided by the treaty. A sense of bloodshed, fear and death should haunt the
play.
The production should highlight the social and economic state of Ireland at the
time. The play is steeped with poverty and unemployment. This economic
deprivation should be evident along with the appalling living conditions of
tenement Dublin.
To contrast with the stark images that I feel haunt the play, the production
would also capture the enduring spirit of these people. Despite, the poverty
and bloodshed that swept through the tenement Dublin, there was also a
positive spirit and sense of community in these tenement flats.”

In casting the play, I feel a production should focus on creating a strong

ensemble company. In recent revivals the characters have all tended to be
played slightly older than written. A new ensemble should be made up of
actors that can play to the correct ages of the characters. Juno should be
early to mid forties, Johnny and Mary should be early twenties, as should
Jerry Devine, Bentham, the irregulars and Mobiliser. I would also see Boyle
and Joxer as characters who could be played in the mid- forties range. This
would add to the feckless nature of their characters as they both hold the
strength and capability to work but prefer to idle their time in Foley’s or
Ryan’s.”

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Biographies
Included below are the biographies of the designers as well as some of
the cast.

Owen MacCárthaigh (Design and Set Builder)

Design credits include: For Macnas: “An Táin”, “Bhuile Sibhne”; for Firclis
“Site”: for Decadent/Town Hall Theatre: “The Weir”, “Someone who’ll watch
over me” and “Translations”: for Townhall /Derry Forum/ Cork Opera House: “
TheLieutenant of Inishmore”. for An Taibhdhearc, “Jude” He has worked
extensively for Galway Youth Theatre designing “Our Country’s Good, “The
Coole Door,” “The Crucible”, Teacher”, “ Liar” , Talking to Terrorists”, “Tegas
Verdas”,“Philadelphia here I come”,“Chatroom” and “Crestfall”.He designed
the set for The Lyric Theatre’s current production “Pump Girl” which is
presently touring Ireland.

Conleth White (Lighting Designer)

Conleth White has designed lighting for most of the major theatre companies
in Ireland.

He has toured to Belgrade, Taiwan, Denmark and the UK with Big Telly's
swimming-pool production of The Little Mermaid. He has been working on
their latest water based show Sinbad. Also for Big Telly he lit The Country
Boy, The Picture of Dorian Grey & Bog People (4 pieces based on the poems
of Seamus Heany). Other recent lighting credits include A Night In November
in Trafalgar Studio One & Olympia Dublin and The Interrogation of Ambrose
Fogarty and HRT in the Grand Opera House Belfast (GBL Productions); The
Boy Soldier & Riddley Walker (Red Kettle, Waterford); 1974, Days of Wine
and Roses & The Hypochondiact (Lyric, Belfast); Dogshow in the Galway
and Kilkenny Arts Festivals and set & lighting for Fido in the Dublin Fringe 07
(both by Garrett Keogh); Frozen (Tall Tales, Project Arts Centre, Dublin); The
Duke of Hope (Irish tour, Tinderbox); The Liverpool Boat by Marie Jones &
Maurice Bessman (Red Lead, Docker's Club, Belfast); Heroes With Their
Hands In The Air (The Playhouse, Derry); Dublin Carol and Rita (Everyman
Palace, Cork); To Have & To Hold (Kabosh, Belfast); The Townlands of Brazil
(also in Teatr Polksi, Wroclaw),Walking the Road (also in Ieper, Belgium) and
Our National Games for Axis-Ballymun and Macbeth in Crumlin Road Gaol for
Replay;.

In 2006 he designed the set & lighting for the ART (NI) production of Hugh
Leonard’s Da.

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Bríd Ni Neachtain (Juno)

Bríd is a native of Galway and was member of the Abbey Theatre Company until
1999. Amongst her favourite productions were: Translations, Mary Makebelieve,
Boss Grady’s Boys, The Mai, Lower Depths, Riders to the Sea, The Playboy of the
Western World (Hong Kong Arts Festival) The Well of the Saints (Perth International
Festival), The Great Hunger (Edinburgh Festival, London, Paris, New York, and
Moscow). Bríd played Rose in the world premiere of Dancing at Lughnasa (Abbey
Theatre, Royal National Theatre, End and Broadway). She appeared in Fishamble’s
production of Consenting Adults and as the Mother/Witch in Handel and Gretel for
Storytellers Theatre Company. More recently she appeared in Portia Coughlan
directed by Brian Brady at the Peacock Theatre and most recently the role of Auntie
Ah in Woman and Scarecow directed by Selina Cartmell at the Peacock Theatre,
Dublin.
She has also worked extensively with Taidhbhearc Na Gaillimhe, most notably in Cré
Na Cille ( for which she was nominated for an Irish Times/ ESB Award for Best
Actress, 2003) and more recently in feature film version of ‘Cre Na Cille’ as the
central character Caitriona, directed by Robert Quinn for TG4/ Telegael for which she
has been nominated for a Best Actress Award in the Irish Film and Television
Awards 2008.

Other Film and Television includes: Dying for a Drink (RTÉ), The Family (BBC/RTÉ),
Ros Na Rún (Tyrone/ TG4), Lipservice(Brother Films/TG4), Clare sa Spéir & An t-é
Ná Fuil Láidir (TG4)

Garrett Keogh - (Jack Boyle)

I trained with the Abbey Theatre School of Acting and was a member of the Abbey
Company, where I played Johnny Boyle in Juno, The Covey in The Plough and the
Stars, Donal Davoren in Shadow of a Gunman and The Socialist in Red Roses for
Me. I toured with Shadow to Australia and New Zealand, and with the Gate
production of Juno to Broadway.
I have been lucky to have been in the first productions of new work by Tom Murphy,
Frank McGuinness, Hugh Leonard and Bernard Farrell, among others.
Personal favourites would be Translations (Abbey), Philadelphia Here I Come
(Gaiety), Innocence (Gate), The Barbaric Comedies (Abbey and Edinburgh), Hedda
Gabler (Abbey and West End) and Cavalcaders (Lyric).
Film and TV includes Veronica Guerin, The Clinic, A Love Divided, the Bargain Shop,
Double Carpet, The Last Furlong and Legend.
Concentrating more on writing, in the last few years I have received a Stewart
Parker/BBC Radio Drama Award, an RTE P. J. O’Connor Award, and an Arts Council
Writer’s Bursary. I have directed my own work at the Galway, Kilkenny Festivals and
at the Dublin Fringe.
My most recent appearance was in my own play Setanta Murphy (part one) at
Bewley’s Café Theatre.

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Stella McCusker - (Mrs Tancred)

Previous appearances for the Abbey include, Philadelphia Here I Come, The Mai,
Portia Coughlan, Tree Houses, Communion,

For the Gate: Uncle Vanya, The House of Bernarda Alba and Juno and the Paycock
on Broadway.

Stella has had a long association with the Lyric Players, Belfast where she made her
debut as Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer. Other performances at the Lyric
include The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Good Natured Man,
Pygmalion, The Memory of Water, Desert Lullaby and Ibsen’s Ghosts, which also
played at the National Theatre, Oslo.

Other theatre includes: The Alice Trilogy; for Druid, At the Black Pig’s Dyke (which
toured to the World Theatre Festival, Toronto), The Loves of Cass McGuire, The
Country Boy; for the Royal Exchange, Manchester, Donny Boy, The Beggar’s Opera,
Electra; for the Almeida Theatre, London, Medea, Our Father; for the Royal Court
London, Pygmies in the Ruins, Woman and Scarecrow; for the Royal Shakespeare
Company, Roberto Zucco, Riders to the Sea

Film and television includes Dear Sarah (Jacobs Award: Best Actress), Red and
Blue, Give My Head Peace, I Fought the Law, On Home Ground, Making the Cut,
MIA Mine Forever, Errors and Omissions, So You Think You’ve Got Troubles,
Foreign Bodies, Betrayal, This is the Sea, Monkey’s Blood (directed by Adrian
Dunbar), Squaddie (directed by Conor McDermott-Roe), Pure Mule, The Last
Furlong, RTE; Holy Cross, BBC; and Queen Elizabeth in Whatever Love Means, ITV.

JOE HANLEY - (Joxer Daly)

Joe's theatre credits include Over & Out (Lane Productions) national tour.Work in the
Abbey Theatre include The Playboy of the Western World
by Roddy Doyle and Bisi Adigun and Homeland by Paul Mercier.Other theatre credits
include The Lieutenant of Innishmore,The Importance of Being
Earnest (Town Hall Theatre Galway). Rough Magic's Take Me Away
(Dublin,Edinburgh,Germany,London) winner Edinburgh Fringe First.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Twelve Angry Men (Lane Productions). Rap Eire,
Much Ado About Nothing (Bikkerstaffe). The Plough and the Stars
(Gaiety). As You Like It (Druid), A little Bit of Blue, Massive Damages (Passion
Machine). The Playboy of the Western World, As You Like It, Macbeth
(Second Age) and Romeo and Juliet (Gate Theatre)
Film credits include soon to be released Dorothy Mills. Somniac, Batman Begins,
Adam and Paul, Veronica Guerin, How Harry Became a Tree,
The Front Line, The Count of Monte Cristo, Flick, Agnes Brown, Run of the Country,
Michael Collins.
Television credits include Murphy's Law (Bafta Nom), Single Handed, Prosperity, The
Clinic, Empire (ABC), Stardust, Fair City.

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Gerard Jordan – (Jerry Devine)

Theatre credits include; Scenes from the Big Picture (Prime Cut & National Theatre
London); Don Carlos, The Bonefire (Rough Magic); Shadow of a Gunman, American
Buffalo (Lyric Theatre); The Force of Change (Royal Court); The Laughter of Our
Children (Dubblejoint Theatre Co.).

Gerard's screen credits include; Five Minutes of Heaven, Pulling Moves, Divorcing
Jack, As the Beast Sleeps, Give My Head Peace (BBC); Fifty Dead Men Walking
(Brightlight Pictures); Peacefire (Mayfly Entertainment); Accelerator (Gazboro Films);
Boxed (Fireproof Films); Gun (Raw Nerve Productions).

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Bibliography & Useful Sources

• Boal, A 2002 Games for Actors and Non- Actors 2nd edition. London:

Routeldge.

• E. Jordan (ed) Theatre Stuff: critical Essays on Contemporary Irish

Theatre, Dublin, Carysford Press

• http://www.irishtheatreonline.com/

• Johnstone C, 2005 House of Games London: Nick Hern.

• Moffatt, S. 1990. O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock" Dublin, Gill &

Macmillan Ltd.

• Morash, C. 2002 A History of Irish Theatre 1601- 2000 Cambridge,

University Press,.

• National Archives ‘Images of tenement housing’ [online] available at

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/poverty_health.html

last accessed 30/08/08

• O’Casey, S. 1998. Three Dublin Plays: The Shadow of a Gunman,

Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars. London, Faber &

Faber Ltd.

• www.abbeytheatre.ie

• www.irishplayography.com

Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey – Teacher’s Resource 2008