Presented by Three Wise Women

Monday, 9th May - Wednesday, 11th May (by Verity-Alicia Mavenawitz, Director: Nuala Kelly) T@36 Teachers Club - Irish Shorts at 8pm. Tickets 10 euro (2 plays)

"…and then there was me" is a play about a young girl's struggle with drugs, sex and shaggy perms! She is going out with Joe but its Bell she loves and even though her family try to support her and understand her, she doesn't seem to understand herself. So, when the shame of who you are is great, when the understanding and sympathy of others is ignored, when drugs, drink and nightlife are your only solace … something has to give, or in her case, take. A story that is hilarious, moving and at times downright sad but for the most part it is a story about "growing up" in more ways than one.

About The Company

Three Wise Women is dedicated to only producing new plays. We are delighted to have such a strong piece as our debut play and we hope that later this year when we produce out second play by Verity-Alicia, Counting Saturdays , that people will really sit up and take notice, we believe we are blessed to have someone like her behind us, We do not receive any funding from the Arts council and to date we have no cooperate sponsorship so we are for the best part "self funding" We are very happy to be part of the Gay Theatre Festival and I hope we will produce more shows with them over the years. The company "Three Wise Women" is the baby of Director Nuala Kelly and was a name she used at collage when she was working on a documentary about Christmas and how commercial it had all gotten. "We were called Three Wise Man productions but two of the guys dropped out so we were left with only women, hence the name change". When Suzanne Lakes and Nuala got together and decided to do a play they used the old college name, if fact they had a name before they had a play to work on. In the next 14 months Three Wise Women hope to produce two new plays "Feeding the Devil" and "Counting Saturdays" both by Verity-Alicia Mavenawitz

Cast & Crew

Performed By Suzanne Lakes
Directed By Nuala Kelly

Show Reviews

"The actor who can hold the attention of an audience, on an almost bare stage, with nothing but the writing and their own talent to depend upon, is a skilled individual. The double bill of "coming out" tales in the Teachers' Club showed to varying degrees the demands of such formats and their impact when they are successful. Verity Alicia Mavenawitz's tragic comedy certainly doesn't pull its punches. It is raw and brutally honest. One certainly might excuse all the anti social behaviour of the central character, like failing to pull your weight at work, theft from home and colleagues, bingeing, drug taking etc. if a person was in turmoil about coming out, but in this tale it is different. Suzanne Lakes' character doesn't really struggle so much with the coming out – it's being out and the continual mental struggle against the negative images of lesbianism that have been drummed into her, that cause the pain and the lashing out. There are colourful episodes and language in this show and at times a little more contrast in delivery and mood would have helped. We rarely had a quiet or thoughtful moment – instead it was a constant anger that Lakes maintained with conviction and authority throughout the hour. She has quite a heavy Dublin accent (for a sibling of a student nurse and a building society official!), but it was used to effect in calling a spade a spade. Director Nuala Kelly did a fine job with just a few inconsistencies in approach, in that most scenarios were mimed to good effect, except the final drug overdose that interrupted the natural flow of the piece and that jarred a little. "And Then There Was Me" had a significant achievement in bringing the unique and rich qualities of lesbian life to the forefront of a gay theatre festival in a strong, serious, powerful and accomplished way. The piece is
very well written, directed and performed as the combined talents of "the three wise women" were put to worthy and worthwhile effect." - Gordon Farrell, Scene City - June 2005