Anger at a party to celebrate the work of playwright Thomas Kilroy caused a bit of a stir this week in the Abbey bar. Actor Stephen Rea, who launched the Irish University Review spring/summer special issue on Thomas Kilroy, criticised the National Theatre for shelving Christ, Deliver Us, an adaptation by Thomas Kilroy of Spring Awakening by Franz Wedekind.
The distinguished actor's anger caused a couple of raised eyebrows and some comments also.
"He obviously felt sufficiently angry to speak his mind," said poet Gerald Dawe, who is editorial adviser of the Irish University Review. "Kilroy has always been identified with the Abbey, so it was a surprise when Christ, Deliver Us was put to the side . . . We are being denied seeing one of his plays. That is the key issue. Why this is the case, I don't know."
Dr Tony Roche, editor of the special review book, said it was "a fair comment, it's a great work but it's important to note what Ben Barnes said at the start, that Thomas Kilroy has a long association with the Abbey Theatre, they stage plays by him every decade, and he is a very valued person in the Abbey".
He also pointed out that Kilroy has been commissioned by Barnes, artistic director of the Abbey, to write a new play.
"We are interested in criticism, it shapes our thinking," said Eithne Healy, chair of the Abbey Theatre. Rea "has the right if he wants to be provocative", and she assured him at the launch that "we are listening".
Healy also spoke of the respect and affection the Abbey Theatre has for Kilroy, who was present with his wife, Julie, and their daughter, Hannah-May (14). "We love Tom Kilroy," she said.
Healy pointed to the line-up of artists who wished to honour him in the review, including Camille Souter, who travelled from Achill to be there, and sculptor John Behan, whose bronze bust of Kilroy was presented to the Abbey for posterity.
A number of Kilroy's siblings were also present, including his sisters, Sr Perpetua of the Mercy Order in New Ross and Sr Mercy of the Mercy Order in Rosslare, and his eldest brother, barrister Michael Kilroy, there with his wife, Kathleen, who still live in the family's home town of Callan, Co Kilkenny.
Playwright Tom Murphy said "Kilroy has a far better mind than mine". Murphy's partner, Jane Brennan, who played the lead in The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, Kilroy's last Abbey play in 1997 popped in to say hello. She was heading next door to the Peacock where she's currently in Murphy's Bailegangaire.
Kilroy, said Rea, "is one of the few playwrights we have who has found a way of harmonising those two traditions - the Anglo-Irish tradition and the native Catholic tradition".