Thursday, 12th May - Saturday, 14th May (by Mark Ravenhill, Director: Peter Hussey) T@36 Teachers Club - Irish Shorts at 8pm + 3pm Saturday. Tickets 10 euro (2 plays)

A teenage boy, Tom, keeps having a recurring dream, in which he is kissing a shadowy figure. The only problem is that he can't tell if the person is a woman or a man. This bittersweet comedy about growing up, follows Tom's journey as he tries to discover his sexual orientation. His favourite teacher is unable to offer advice due to 'school policy', so Tom decides to experiment on his own. First he tries with his closest male friend Gary, who declines Tom's advances - then he tries with his closest female friend Amy, who becomes pregnant. Tom soon finds himself involved with an older young man but still feels strongly attached to Amy and their child. In the end, Tom must decide for himself what he truly wants. Citizenship, by Mark Ravenhill, began its life as a play reading in The George last year to great acclaim by this young dynamic company.

About The Company

Crooked House has had a long and fruitful relationship with Mark Ravenhill, premiering many of his plays in Ireland. Kildare Youth Theatre, the organisation's young company, staged a reading of the first draft of Citizenship in last years' Gay Theatre Festival. The play has changed considerably since then.

KYT is one of Ireland's most innovative and enterprising young people's theatre companies, having toured major new work in Ireland and abroad. Under the directorship of Peter Hussey they will be taking Enda Walsh's new play Chatroom to the Prague Fringe Festival in June this year. Citizenship will travel to the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in July. KYT is based in Newbridge, trains 120 young people aged between 15 and 26 in performance, and is not funded. Please visit www.crookedhouse.ie for further information.

Cast & Crew

Niall Moore (playing Tom); Louise Lonergan (Amy/Melissa); Sarah Ellis (Amy/Melissa); John Mooney (de Clerk); Conor Creighton (Martin); Cian O' Dowd (Gary); Peter Lee (Ray); David O' Grady (Stephen); Jennifer Ennis (Alicia); Sophie Cadogan (Chantal); Claire Brophy (Kerry); and Simone Hunt (Baby).

Show Reviews

"A much awaited play following its play reading in The George last year. It is a great achievement for the festival to have a young people's theatre group (especially from outside Dublin) in its programme and I salute the accomplishment of Peter Hussey and the parents in Newbridge for their immense achievement. I was a little disappointed with Ravenhill's final product and I am not convinced he maintained and developed all the nuggets of his former "work in progress". He took away some of the comedy and made Tom less of a "lad" and to me, more obviously going to be gay, than in the original script. The use of the child as a narrator for a brief moment near the end was plain weird. Niall Moore was an appealing Tom. He grew on me throughout the performance with his charm and keen sense of comic timing. Cian O'Dowd put in a good performance as Gary who has an endless remit to be even more laid back. There were some smashing cameos with Claire Brophy's Kerry the baby obsessed girl, Amy's sister who always interrupts the mating rituals (a very cut down role from the original piece which is a huge loss to the plot – but well played). The two "lads" in the schoolyard were very strong, as was the Teacher, John Mooney. In a short play, it began to be difficult to distinguish character names from this 14 strong character list, but there was some fine relaxed, uninhibited and appropriate playing from a very young cast. Hussey's minimalist setting, and assured
direction allowed us to concentrate on the richness of the performances and he can be well pleased with his protoges. His innovation in bringing this script to the festival first as a reading, then as a finished work and with an accomplished young company is to be applauded. A significant night of achievement for young people's theatre – a great night for gay theatre. More please next year!" - Gordon Farrell, Scene City - June 2005