Every thing on stage that isn't ordinary

Mary and Richardo have broken up, and Mary decides to find out what she wants from her life, while Richardo takes "the road to…

Mary and Richardo have broken up, and Mary decides to find out what she wants from her life, while Richardo takes "the road to forget".

En route he has a strange adventure, which brings him back to his former girlfriend as a changed man.

Playing with the lines, Richard Mannion (Richardo) and Pat Kenna (his good friend, Niall) are having more than a few laughs with director Niamh Dillon. There are just a few days to go, and they are engaged in final rehearsals of a play to be staged in Galway's Black Box Theatre which they have devised along with their 15 colleagues.

Characters such as Dr Fabulous, Dr Chocolates, Dr Sweep and Dr Marvellous form part of the story, called Blue, which involves "Blue men", "Pop stars" and other extraordinary individuals. "Everything out of the ordinary is possible", say its authors, who are the members of Blue Teapot Theatre Company.

READ MORE

The company dates back to 1991, when a drama project was established for a group of adults with learning disability, drawn from four centres run by the Brothers of Charity services in Galway.

Initially the stated aim for the participants was to "provide a creative outlet and a form of self-expression", to build self-confidence and to have some fun. Out of a series of workshops came The Drummer Boy, and since then Blue Teapot has grown and developed under the guidance of drama trainer Catherine Seale, psychologist Fiona Coffey and Claude Madec, who is responsible for pastoral care in the services.

There have been more workshops and more productions, including Ocean Blue in 1998, Baby at the Spanish Arch in the same year, Millennium Fable in 2000 and Pascal's Story last year. In 2000 the company went on tour and received a Better Ireland award for its work.

Last year the company was granted funding from the Education Equality Initiative (EEI) for an "educate, create, advocate" project. The EEI is funded by the Department of Education and Science, with assistance from the European Social Fund as part of the National Development Plan.

The trainer and co-ordinator with Blue Teapot for this has been Niamh Dillon, who comes from the Galway Youth Theatre, and since last April she has been involved in a five-day-a-week training scheme in drama skills. Performances are created based on issues relating to diversity, such as the stories of people with special needs, with the aim of presenting them to local communities.

In the autumn Blue Teapot plans to take an "issue-based theatre piece" to schools and local community groups. This week, April 11th and 12th, Blue is being staged in the Black Box Theatre, Galway, and in the Draoicht Arts Centre in Blanchardstown, Dublin, on April 18th and 19th. Tickets are €6.50 (concessionary €5), available through the Town Hall Theatre booking office in Galway, and there is also a matinee at 2 p.m. this Friday.