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“A Close Shave with the Devil” – Fota House

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“A Close Shave with the Devil”

with well known Actress Ena May (of The Tailor and Ansty” fame) at Fota House on Friday, 15 October.

When Ena May’s collection of short stories was published by Lilliput Press in 1998, it was received with excitement by many.   On Friday, 15 October and Saturday 16th October she brings a glimpse of her work to the stage at Fota House.  In “A Close Shave with the Devil”, which was nominated for an Irish Times Literary Award, she has woven four of her stories together to present a tapestry of life as a young girl in Dublin after the Second World War.   Taking it one step beyond mere authorship, she has woven herself into this tapestry by providing the voice for her young heroine Eily, as well as a small city of supporting characters.

Set in the late 1940’s, the stories in “A Close Shave with the Devil” are all told by young Eily Doolin who casts a naïve, yet knowing look at the adults in her domestic and larger world.   Eily is a gimlet-eyed narrator, who brings a childlike innocence to these ultimately unsettling, yet wickedly humorous tales.

May trained under the late Deirdre O’Connell at the Focus Theatre’s own Stanislavski Studio and on display here are all the skills she gained there.   With a turn of the heard she is transformed from Eily’s nemesis, the adenoid-addled, skinned kneed Itchy Rider to the Gaiety’s proper Dublin gent of a doorman.   When we meet Mr. and Mrs. Smith, she simultaneously plays Mrs. Smith, who is as wide as a Guinness barge and her husband who when standing next to her, “looks like a little grey monkey at the bottom of a purple mountain”.

At the conclusion, we are reminded vividly of what it meant to be children.  May’s story is so vividly constructed that for a short time we become children again.

Venue:           Fota House             Date:              Friday 15th and Saturday 16th October

Time:              8 p.m.                                    Tickets:          €20.00

To book, contact Fota House: 021 4815543

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