The actors and accents of Monaghan were in Dublin this week for their first Dublin performance of Leaving by Philip Osment.
The play, which deals with suicide, is tackling a subject that nobody else is dealing with, said Liam Halligan, founder and artistic director of the production company, Quare Hawks. The high number of suicides, especially among young men, is an epidemic, he said.
Leaving, which continues its nationwide tour going to Clones, Co Monaghan, and then Kiltimagh, Co Mayo after tonight's last performance at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, has attracted a high attendance from school-goers and teachers. There will be a matinée performance for schools at the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick next Friday, April 4th.
Osment, an English playwright, recalled staying in Monaghan when he was writing the play last year and the similarities between rural life in Monaghan and his own experience of growing up near Exmoor in Devon. "Monaghan reminded me of stuff that I felt then when I was 17 - the muddy lanes, the feeling that you were never going to get out and the sense in the country that things can never change."
Among those who attended were Tony Reilly, director of the British Council, which co-financed the production, Jack Gilligan, Dublin City Arts officer and Chris Hudson, of the Communication Workers' Union.