About Stage It Productions

Stage It Productions was set up in 2020 by Dr. Finola Doyle O’Neill, founding member of the UCC Players, and now its Honorary President.

Finola has written and directed many well-received plays including Walking with Ireland into the Sun, a tribute to the revolutionary women of 1916. The play was performed over five nights in 2016 at the former women’s gaol in Sundays Well, Cork to large capacity audiences. In 2018, Finola directed Agatha Christie’s classic play, Witness for the Prosecution, at an another bespoke venue, this time the Cork Courthouse, to very positive reviews.

In the area of Film and Television, Finola was Casting Director and Assistant Director on a film by Cork journalist, Sarah Horgan, entitled Something Borrowed. The film was selected for both the Cork Indie Festival and the Dublin Theatre festival.

REMIT

The remit of Stage It Productions - ‘the home of classics and comedies’, is not only to provide quality amateur drama, but to also provide a vehicle to perform historical dramas for second-level students. Finola is passionate about ‘staging history’ and has written her own tribute to the suffragettes, an event which involved Mrs. Sabina Higgins as a participant. She has written a short play called 'When Harry met Kitty', which looks at the love triangle between Kitty Kiernan, Harry Boland and Michael Collins and how it impacted Irish history. 

PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS

The Importance of Being Earnest. As the dramatist himself so aptly puts it, ’A trivial comedy for serious people’ is as relevant today as it was in 1890s Victorian England. The wit and wisdom of Wilde’s comedy are sure to strike a chord with modern audiences, where ‘polite society’ is really another term for scathing social media soundbites!

This incomparable classic, is directed by UCC broadcast historian, Finola Doyle O’Neill, creative director of Stage It Productions. The cast of this amateur production, includes Tim Roche, a former All-Ireland drama finalist, who plays Anglican Minister, Dr Chasuble. His love interest, the Governess, Miss Prism, is played by Eithne Horgan, a fine comedic actress, seen in the 2019 film Lovestruck at the Cork Film Festival. The formidable Lady Bracknell is played by Ber Madden, who has performed a series of stand-out leading roles for the UCC Players. Her daughter Gwendolyn is played by Julie Coleman, known for her performances in the annual 10×10’s at the Cork Arts Theatre. Reece Hawtrey, a UCC theatre graduate and an exciting up and coming Cork actor, plays the part of Algernon Moncrieff. MTU Drama and Theatre graduate Pearse O’ Donoghue, plays the lead role of Jack Worthing, while his wily ward, Cecily Cardew, is played by former Montforts protegee Karen Ray.  Rory O’ Flynn, plays the role of manservant Lane, an eccentric character who captures all the absurdities and the frailties of modern life.

With accompanying music throughout, this is a night of fun and frolics, not to be missed!

Arsenic and Old Lace, written by Joseph Kesselring, has long been a staple of Broadway classic comedies, made even more famous by the film version starring Cary Grant. Set in the 1940s, this is a dark comedy that centres around the members of the Brewster family and their homicidal tendencies. Mortimer Brewster is a drama critic who is juggling his “crazy” family, including what appears to be two harmless aunts, a rather incompetent local police force, all the while trying to marry Elaine, the woman he loves.

The director and founder of Stage It Productions, Finola Doyle O’Neill has adapted the play to a more ‘genteel’ British setting, replacing wine with copious cups of tea, while still maintaining its wartime setting and its unrivalled humour.

Running time of 2 hours 25 mins including interval.

CAST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:
Eric Browne: Mortimer Brewster
Bruce Coleman: Winston Brewster
Adrianna Dineen: Dr Einstein
Eithne Horgan: Martha Brewster
Mike Keep: Jonathan Brewster
Ber Madden: Abbey Brewster
Jim O’Mahony: Reverend Harper
Karen Ray: Elaine Harper
Michelle Sheehan: Constable Brophy
Fred Spengeman: Officer O’Hara

PRODUCTION CREW:
Finola Doyle O’Neill: Director
Dolores Dermody: Producer
Sharon Lynch: Stage Manager
Ross O’Neill: Lighting and Sound


THANK YOU

From the cast of 'Arsenic and Old Lace'

Thank you to all of our supporters for turning up in such numbers to sell-out performances of Arsenic and Old Lace at the Cork Arts Theatre. We are humbled by the reception received.