That Was Then Read online

  That Was Then

  That Was Then

  Gerard Stembridge

  Methuen Drama

  Published by Methuen 2002

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  First published in 2002 by

  Methuen Publishing Limited,

  215 Vauxhall Bridge Road,

  London SWIV 1EJ

  Copyright © Gerard Stembridge 2002

  Gerard Stembridge has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work

  Methuen Publishing Limited Reg. No. 3543167

  A CIP catalogue record is available from the British Library

  eISBN: 978-1-40811-767-5

  Typeset by SX Composing DTP, Rayleigh, Essex

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by

  Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire

  Caution

  All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performances etc. should be made to: ICM Limited, Oxford House, 76 Oxford Road, London WC1N 0AX. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  That was Then

  By Gerard Stembridge

  That was Then

  By Gerard Stembridge

  That was Then by Gerard Stembridge was first performed at the Abbey Theatre on Thursday 16 May 2002. Press night was 21 May 2002.

  The play is set somewhat in the past and slightly in the future

  There will be one interval of 15 minutes

  Please note that the text of the play which appears in this volume may be changed during the rehearsal process and appear in a slightly altered form in performance.

  Gerard Stembridge Author and Director

  Gerard Stembridge is a writer and director. He has written theatre plays, Lovechild, The Gay Detective and Denis and Rose, television dramas, The Truth about Claire and Black Day at Black Rock and radio plays, Daisy the Cow who Talked and Daylight Robbery. His films are Guiltrip and About Adam and his screen plays are Ordinary Decent Criminal and Nora (co-written with Pat Murphy).

  Es Devlin Designer

  Es trained at Bristol University, Central Saint Martins and Motley Theatre Design Course. Theatre designs include Hinterland, Abbey Theatre, Royal National Theatre, Out of Joint, Anthony and Cleopatra, RSC, Arabian Night, Soho Theatre, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, New Ambassadors, The Prisoner's Dilemma, RSC, Meat, Theatre Royal, Plymouth (Nominated for TMA 2001 Best Design Award), Howie the Rookie, Bush Theatre (Winner of TMA 1999 Best Design Award), Henry IV, RSC, Betrayal, RNT, Rita, Sue and Bob Too/A State Affair, Out of Joint/Soho Theatre, Hamlet, Young Vic, Tokyo Globe, Credible Witness, Yard Gal, Royal Court, Snake in the Grass, Old Vic, Piano, TPT, Tokyo, Love and Understanding, Love You Too, One Life and Counting, Drink, Dance, Laugh, Lie, Bush Theatre, Perapalas, Gate Theatre, The Death of Cool, Hampstead Theatre, Closer to Heaven, Arts Theatre, Edward II, Bolton Octagon, (Winner of the 1995 Linbury Prize for Stage Design). Opera designs include Hansel and Gretel, Scottish Opera Go Round, Fidelio, English Touring Opera, Powder Her Face, Ystad Festival, Sweden, Don Giovanni, British Youth Opera. Designs for dance include A Streetcar Named Desire, Northern Ballet Theatre, God's Plenty and Four Scenes both for Rambert Dance Company. Designs for film include Brilliant!, Ten by Ten for BBC2, A Tale of Two Heads, Beggars Belief, Snow on Saturday (winner of the Kino Best British Short Rim 2001).

  Paul Keogan Lighting Designer

  Born in Dublin Paul studied Drama at The Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin and at Glasgow University. After graduating Paul worked as Production Manager for Project Arts Centre. He has designed a number of productions for the Abbey and Peacock Theatres including Melonfarmer, The Electrocution of Children, Amazing Grace, Living Quarters, Making History, The Map Maker's Sorrow, Cúirt an Mheán Ofche, Treehouses, Mrs Warren's Profession, Bailegangaire, The Sanctuary Lamp, The Morning Alter Optimism, The Tempest, Tartuffe and Eden. Other designs include The Silver Tassie, Almeida Theatre, London, The Gay Dectective, Project, Quay West and Blasted, Bedrock Productions, Ballads, Seasons and The Rite of Spring, CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and The Silver Tassie, Opera Ireland, The Lighthouse, Opera Theatre Company, The Makropulos Case, Opera Zuid, Netherlands, SAMO, Block &Steel, Netherlands, Too Late for Logic, Edinburgh International Festival, Olga, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Denis and Rose, Civic Theatre Tallaght, The Wishing Well, a large scale outdoor projection piece for Kilkenny Arts Festival 1999 and most recently, The Gates of Gold for the Gate Theatre.

  Stephen Brennan Noel

  Stephen's most recent appearances at the Abbey Theatre were as Harry in The Sanctuary Lamp, Kearns in A Life and Henry in The Wake. He spent several years in musicals before joining the Abbey Theatre in 1976, where he played more than sixty leading and supporting roles, including the title role in Hamlet. He joined the Royal National Theatre, London in 1983 and apart from Frank'n'Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, has worked almost exclusively at the Gate since 1988, where roles include Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband, Elyot in Private Lives, Lucky in Waiting for Godot, the title role in Moliere's Tartuffe, Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Serge in Art, Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac and the title role of Oedipus at the Gaiety. Film work includes Eat the Peach and The General. His television work includes El Cid, the second series of Ballykissangel, Father Ted, DDU, Mystic Knights, A Piece of Monologue and Waiting for Godot for the Beckett Film Project. He most recently appeared at the Gate Theatre in Two Plays by Brian Friel

  Nick Dunning Julian

  Nick's previous appearances at the Abbey and Peacock Theatres include Mrs Warren's Profession, The Marriage of Figaro and The Last Ones. Recently he appeared in The Homecoming by Pinter at the Gate Theatre also in New York at the Lincoln Center, Pinter Festival and a long run in London's West End. Other theatre work includes The Strongest Man in the World, Lincoln Center, New York, Some Explicit Polaroids, Out of Joint, No Man's Land, Gate Theatre, A Handful of Dust, Comedy without a Title, Marriage, Successful Stratagems, False Admissions, Shared Experience, Othello, Lyric Hammersmith, TheTaming of the Shrew, The Happy End, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Wandering Jew, Countrymania, Richard II, Royal National Theatre, Glasshouses, The Recruiting Officer, Our Country's Good, Doing the Business, Beside Herself, Royal Court Theatre, Phoenix, Bush Theatre, According to Hoyle, Hampstead Theatre. Television credits include Remembrance, Strangers, The Young Ones, Way Upstream, The Firm, The Bill, Saracen, El Cid, The Rory Bremner Show, The Roughest Way, The Rita Rudner Show, Events at Drimagleen, Alive and Kicking, Resnick, Minder II, Boon, Casualty, Between the Lines, Sister My Sister, Medics, A Few Short Journeys of the Heart, Drop the Dead Donkey, Wycliffe, Sharman, Into the Blue, Making the Cut, The Ambassador, Midsomer Murders, Vanity Fair, Surgical Two, Dangerfield and Ultimate Force. Films include Lamb, London Kills Me, The Fifth Province, Jackie Chan's Highbinders and he has just completed East of Harlem with Jim Sheridan.

  Julia Lane June

  Since graduating from Oxford University and The Drama Studio Julia has worked extensively in theatre and television. She last appeared at the Abbey and Peacock Theatres in Blackwater Angel by Jim Nolan. Other theatre work includes The Homecoming, Leicester Haymarket, The Positive Hour, Out of Joint, Gaucho, The Fancy Man, Hampstead Theatre, The Rover, RSC, Jane Eyre, Birmingham Rep, The Changeling, Macbeth, Contact Theatre, Abolition, Bristol Old Vic. Television credits include Ballykiss
angel, Prime Suspect V, Thieftakers, Heartbeat, Capital City, Achilles Heel, Inspector Morse, Brighton Belles, A Pinch of Snuff, The Sharp End, The Bill, Casualty and Boon. Films include Woman at War, Memories of Midnight, The Secret Rapture and Black Eyes.

  Marion O'Dwyer May

  Marion's previous appearances at the Abbey and Peacock Theatres include En Suite, The Memory of Water, Kevin's Bed, The Only True History of Lizzie Rnn, Portia Coughlan at the Peacock and the Royal Court, London, Moving, You Can't Take it with You, The Silver Tassie and Dancing at Lughnasa which also toured Ireland and Australia and Wonderful Tennessee in which she also played on Broadway. Appearances at the Gate Theatre include Stella in Stella by Starlight, A Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, The Threepenny Opera, Fathers and Sons, Blithe Spirit, Twelfth Night and An Ideal Husband. For Druid Theatre Company she played in The Donahue Sisters, Lovers' Meeting, Poor Beast in the Rain and The Loves of Cass Maguire. Other theatre work includes Molly in Molly Sweeney for the Bristol Old Vic, Mena in Sive at the Watford Palace Theatre and Tricycle Theatre, London, Liz in From Both Hips for Fishamble Theatre Company at project @ the mint and the Tron Theatre, Glasgow. Marion co-starred in Anjelica Houston's film Agnes Browne. Other film and television work includes Oonagh in Ballykissangel, appearances in The Ambassador, Rebel Heart, The Life of Reilly, Finbarr's Class and Thou shalt not Kill. Marion's radio work includes the recent BBC Radio 4 series Faithful Departed and she was a member of the RTE Players for four years. She also directed Long Lonely Time at Andrews Lane Theatre.

  Jade Yourell April

  Jade trained at the Ann Kavanagh Young People's Theatre and D.I.T. Rathmines. This is her first appearance at the Abbey and Peacock Theatres. Other theatre work includes Thomasina in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, directed by Ben Barnes. Mabel Chiltem in An Ideal Husband, directed by Alan Stanford at the Gate Theatre and The Importance of Being Eamest, Town Hall Theatre. Jade can currently be seen as Jasmine Conoly in Fair City (RTE).

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