The performers and stars of the future will be on stage later this month for the annual production of Roscommon County Youth Theatre (RCYT).
This year the group are staging an original production entitled ‘Pay The Price,’ written by the group’s artistic director, Boyle native Catherine Sheridan. The play features a cast of twenty-six, hailing from all over County Roscommon.
For Catherine Sheridan, the experience, both in the writing and preparation, has been revelatory: “I first came up with the idea for such a play during Covid-19 when we were all limited by what we could do.
“The play is about the use of power, control and the heavy surveillance that is practised on individuals in societies. It’s about how we willingly ‘sign-up’ as it were, to hand over our own power.
“It’s also about realising and recognising the power each of us has. For me, the play looks at the pressures of those who do not conform and the devastating impact that can have. As a society, we are totally handing over that power,” she emphasises.
Despite all that, the play does not preach but will allow the viewer to ask their own questions and draw their own conclusions. Nevertheless, the impact of the play mirrors how many believe tech., politics and economics all conspire to erode the self.
“When the idea first came to me for the play, it kind of flowed. There was a more ‘viral’ or tech element to the play at the outset. But since then, it has evolved. The play casts one eye on the future and the pace of that future for all of us.
“It also looks at ‘the mask’ many of us adopt to survive in our environment and casts an eye on the dangers or threats from being authentic and true to oneself. So, in a way, the play’s message mirrors many of the larger debates we need to have as a society,” says Catherine.
This year’s production will be performed for two nights only, on Friday, April 24th and Saturday, April 25th from 8pm in Roscommon Arts Centre. Tickets, priced €16 with a special concession rate of €14 available from the Arts Centre box office.
The production will also be hosting a couple of shows for local schools with morning performances from 11am on Thursday, April 23rd and Friday, April 24th. Tickets for these productions are €12 each.
