As anyone who saw this play first time round will attest, it is an extremely powerful and well written drama and it's well worth going to see.

Group discounts are available — please contact theatres directly for details. Further information also available from www.calypso.ie.

Dates and venues:

DUBLIN — Andrews Lane Theatre, Wednesday April 30th to Saturday May 10th nightly at 8pm.
Tkts Eur15. (May 5th & 6th are Eur18 to Eur20). Booking 01 679 5720

TALLAGHT — Civic Theatre, Monday 12th May — Saturday 17th May, 8pm
Ph. 01 4627477 Tkts Eur18/13

NEW ROSS — St. Michael's Theatre, Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st May, 8pm
Ph. 051 421 255 Tkts Eur15/10

CORK — Everyman Palace Theatre, Tuesday 22nd — Saturday 24th May, 8pm
Ph. 021 450 1673 Tkts Eur18/15

ROSCOMMON — Roscommon Arts Centre, Tuesday 27th May, 8pm
Ph. 0903 25824 (no price available)

CASTLEBAR — Linenhall Arts Centre, Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th May, 8.30pm
Ph. 094 23733 Tkts Eur10/7

ATHLONE — Dean Crowe Theatre, Friday 30th and Saturday 31st May, 8pm
Ph. 0902 92129 Tkts Eur15/12

PORTLAOISE - Dunamaise Arts Centre, Tuesday 3rd June, 8pm
Ph. 0502 63356 Tkts Eur13/10

LONGFORD - Backstage Theatre, Wednesday 4th June, 8.30pm
Ph. 043 47888 Tkts Eur 15/12.50

MONAGHAN - Garage Theatre, Thursday 5th and Friday 6th June, 8pm
Ph. 047 81597 Tkts Eur12/10

CAVAN — Ramor Theatre, Saturday 7th June, 8.30pm
Ph. 049 8547074 (no price available).

"Stolen Child"
by Yvonne Quinn & Bairbre Ní Chaoimh

Andrews Lane Theatre, Thurs 5 — Sat 21 September @ 8pm
Booking information 01-6795720

Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, Tues 24 — Sat 28 September @8pm
Booking information 01-2312929

www.calypso.ie

You can tell a lot about a play or a film by audience reaction. Stolen Child, the latest production by Calypso, certainly provoked that! It was interesting for me, though, to listen to when and where that reaction occurred. We all laughed in the right places. But there were certain lines that provoked laughter from only a few scattered sections of the audience...The first couple of times we heard that laughter, Kathryn and I exchanged a wry glance. We now knew where our fellow bastards were sitting. We had thought those same lines ourselves, and heard them from others countless times. The general theatre-going public didn't get the private jokes, though. And God knows we bastards need to keep our senses of humour active :-)

Stolen Child is a fictional play based solidly on fact, drawing much from the book "Children of the Poor Clares" by Mavis Arnold. Ostensibly, its a straightforward story of one woman's trace for her natural mother. Angela (Cathy Belton) hires seedy private detective Mick Treacy (Malachy McKenna) of Treacy's Tracing Services to find her mother, Peggy (Rosaleen Linehan). Interspersed with Angela's ongoing trace we hear from Peggy about her own life, mainly centred on her upbringing in the Industrial School run by the Poor Clares in Cavan.

Like many of us, of course, Angela finds that starting a trace is sometimes anything but straightforward. Its a long, laborious process that soon becomes a voyage of personal discovery as much as a quest to find a relative.

Many of us have become somewhat immune, I think, to newspaper reports of the abuses inflicted on children and young adults by the Church in the industrial schools and Magdalene Laundries. You can only read so many of them before either learning *not* to read them, or, frankly, becoming bored. Linehan's account of Peggy's life in Cavan soon strips away our immunity. It is raw, passionate, heartfelt. It is even more shocking when you realise that this isn't fictional, some of the events actually occurred.

I can't say too much more without revealing the plot, but what I will say is if you want to see a strong, well-acted, well-researched play — go to Stolen Child. And bring some tissues with you.

Anton Sweeney