‘It's an honour to see my plays are being recognised'
Jimmy Keary, a playwright from Rathowen who has been writing plays and sketches for the last 20 years, spoke to Caolán Fulham about how his life has shaped around his art and the thrill he gets from writing his plays
“I started writing stories in October 1970, when I was 12 years old. As a young child, I had an interest in stories. I read a lot of comics and I enjoyed creating stories with toy cars that were lying around the house, the main character in these stories was a detective called Greg Stuart, whose name I got from a comic.
“I continued writing stories for another six years and in 1976 I went to university in Maynooth. While there, I joined the drama group, who were due to be performing a play called ‘Drama at Inis’ around then. Not long before the performance one of the actors dropped out so I was called up.
“That was my first time performing on stage and I particularly enjoyed it.
“The next year I performed in a play called ‘Us and Them’. I graduated from Maynooth in 1980 after spending four successful years there.
“That same year, I returned to Rathowen. John Tormey then asked me to join the RADS (Rathowen Amateur Dramatic Society).
“That year, the RADS did two sketches and one three-act play. The following year, 1981, I wrote two sketches for their winter concert, ‘Father of the Bride’ and ‘A Little Deception’.
“In following years I wrote many more sketches for their winter concerts.
“In 1985, I began writing sketches for the RTÉ television series ‘Davis at Large’, which starred the late Derek Davis. Over the next couple of years, ICA groups began to perform my sketches. In 1995, I wrote my first one-act play, ‘Looking For Love’, which was first performed in the Bog Lane Theatre, Ballymahon in 1997.
“The RADS broke up in 1985, but set up a reformed group in 2011. I last acted in Mullingar in 1990 in a play called ‘Arsenic and Oldlace’. I played the part of Policeman Brophy in the production.
“From 1995 to the present, I have written 18 three-act plays and five one-act plays. It is hard to pick a favourite out of all my plays but I suppose ‘The Maiden Aunt’ (1995) and ‘The Two Loves of Gabriel Foley’ (2010) are two that spring to mind.
“I wrote my first one-act play in 1995 and first three-act in 1999. Bernard Farrell, another Irish playwright, in some aspects inspired me.
“Three of my plays have been performed in Chicago over the last 10 years, all three-act plays – ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, ‘The Two Loves of Gabriel Foley’ and ‘The Maiden Aunt’. Also, near Boston in 2009 my three-act play ‘Too Close To Home’ was performed.
“Last St Patrick’s Day, ‘Gabriel Foley’ was performed in Luton, England by a drama group from Leitrim. That same group wish to bring the play to Manchester next St Patrick’s Day.
“It is truly an honour that my plays are travelling, and I hope to go abroad and see a production of one of them in the near future.
“While writing my plays, I imagine myself to be every character.
“I try to keep the plots and characters as real as possible, so the audience can relate to the characters.
“I believe that the first 10 pages of any play are the hardest, as I have to introduce new characters each time.
“All the plays I have written are comedies, and word of mouth is a huge factor in how successful my plays turn out to be.
“I get a serious thrill out of writing. As a young child I enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles, and that gave me a lot of patience, a trait that any playwright needs.
“Comedy plays have been so important with the recession, as people need an uplift in times of gloom.
“I imagine writing a play just like a game of table tennis – one move inspires the next, just like writing one line inspires the next.
“On average, a three-act play is 65-68 pages.
“In 2010, I launched my website (jimmykeary.ie) and as a result, many people have contacted me. Ron Masak, an American actor who played the sheriff in ‘Murder She Wrote’, is a fan of my plays – he calls himself my ‘biggest fan’.
“I have a close connection with Ron as I send him over my newly written plays for him to preview.
“The Claregalway drama group have recently performed my one-act play, ‘Where There’s a Will’.
“Later this month, Clonmore drama group from Tipperary will perform my newest play, ‘For Better, For Worse’, which I wrote earlier this year.
“This play is a sequel for ‘The Two Loves of Gabriel Foley’. It’s on Friday November 27, Sunday November 29 and Saturday December 5.
“There have been roughly 40 performances of my plays so far in 2015.
“I am a sole trader in many aspects, and therefore I am thrilled that my hard work is paying off.”