Love and loss in new play from Kabosh

Written by Laurence McKeown and directed by Paula McFetridge, ‘Before You Go’ looks at the difficulties of communicating with those who are closest to us and the consequences of not saying what we should while there is still time.

Set in Carlingford in the present day, ‘Before You Go’ tells the story of 22 year-old Sorcha, whose mother, Mary, died when she was just 18 months old. Sorcha was raised largely by Mary’s parents and whilst father and daughter now have a strong relationship, his regular absenteeism throughout her life was never discussed.

Playwright Laurence McKeown found that the experience of Sorcha and Brendan in the play had a resonance with his own family: “I have two daughters who are around the same age as Sorcha so I understand the need for intrafamily and cross-generational dialogue. Everyone has a past and I believe that the only way we ever move forward, whether as a family, a relationship, or as a society, is by people being prepared to speak openly about their past and others being prepared to listen. Memory is, by its very nature, subjective and we may never know the full truth about the past. We have to come to accept that. Only then will we be able to live in the moment, while letting the past exist.”

The cast of ‘Before You Go’ features James Doran as Brendan, Lisa Duffy as Mary and Eimear Fearon, in her first professional role, as Sorcha.

Director Paula McFetridge from Kabosh explained some of the creative challenges of presenting ‘Before You Go’ during the pandemic: “We presented the first socially distanced live theatre show in August last year and while that had its own challenges, they do say that necessity is the mother of invention. The more recent COVID-19 regulations have meant that with ‘Before You Go’ we have had to rehearse via Zoom, perform in a ventilated studio in the middle of winter and film the show remotely with only the three actors in the room. Despite the restrictions, the power of Laurence’s words and our cast’s performances remains in full force.”

Tickets are free and can be booked via www.kabosh.net.