Westmeath's most prolific scribe

Nobody can accuse Rathowen playwright Jimmy Keary of resting on his literary laurels.

For the last two decades he has written a play a year and last weekend play number 20, Mammy's Boy, received its US premier via Chicago Celtic Park Players, a group with which he has had a long association.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this week, Jimmy says that it is always exciting to see his plays make the transition from the page to the stage. Like most of his other works, Mammy's Boy is a comedy based in rural Ireland.

The say that you should write what you know and Jimmy subscribes to this view.

“Unconsicously you find yourself using people that you know and their environments for characters,” he says.

Mammy's Boy, which was written last year, is about the return to the family fold of a son who left home under what Jimmy describes as “shadowy circumstances”.

The prodigal son's sister has dutifully taken care of their mother and the homestead. However, his motivations for coming home anything but virtuous.

Described by its creator as “light hearted” but with an “underlying message”, Mammy's Boy was premiered in Aglish in Tipperary this year.
As well as being one of Ireland's most prolific playwrights, Jimmy could also lay claim to being one of her most produced.

Such is his popularity with drama groups that on any week of the year, it's likely that somewhere in Ireland one of his plays is being staged. In fact so far this year, there have been 26 productions of his plays across Ireland.

“When you are writing a play you don't know if anyone will like it, but having sat through many performances of my plays you get to know what audiences respond to. It's lovely to hear people laugh at somehting you have written.”

After 20 plays in as many years, Jimmy has perfected his own writing style, which he describes as “organic”.

Rather than spending too long planning the plot and characters in advance, he likes to see where the play and the people in it bring him during the writing journey.

“It keeps it fresh for me and helps keep me on my toes,” he says.

Currently near the end of writing his 21st play, there's no doubt that whatever his modus operandi is, it's working well for Westmeath's most prolific scribe.

For more information on Jimmy's work visit: www.jimmykeary.ie.