The cast of ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’

The cast of ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’

Athea Drama Group Presents

‘The Hen Night Epiphany’

by Jimmy Murphy

A touching and funny new play about love and family.

A week before the wedding of her dreams, a woman wonders if some secrets should never be kept no matter what the cost. ‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ is a heart lifting tale of five women who take to the countryside for a night of fun and laughter that leaves their lives turned upside down.

It will be performed at the Con Colbert Memorial Hall, Athea on February 25th, 27th & 28th and March 3rd, 5th & 6th at 8pm, with doors open from 7.30pm.

The cast, directed by Oliver McGrath, includes: Annette O’Donnell, Ria Browne O’Donnell, Louise Ahern, Nora Hunt and Angeline O’Donnell.

‘The Hen Night Epiphany’ promises to be an emotional evening of laughter and tears with a hen night you will never forget. We guarantee you a great night in the theatre! Please note that this play contains adult themes.

Athea Community Games

Annual Church Gate collection this weekend Saturday/Sunday February 20th & 21st. Your support, as always, would be greatly appreciated. 

God Help Us! 

I watched the  leaders debate on TV last night and thought it was much better than the first one, it left me deflated and  worried about the future of this little country. The first debate on TV3 was a complete shambles with participants shouting each other down in a manner that would not be tolerated in senior infants! I asked myself the question –  are these the best people to run the country?  If this is the level of debate they are capable of producing then we should go cap in hand to England and ask them to take over again. They are patronising and give us the impression that we are mindless gombeens who will believe anything they tell us. They all promise things they know in their heart and soul they haven’t a chance in hell of keeping. If the best form of defence is attack then they have got it right but even then they are not believable. I am sick and tired of the constant attacks on Fianna Fáil, particularly by Enda Kenny. Yes, Fianna Fáil in government got it wrong but where were the opposition?  Instead of attacking the government spending and warning about  what was coming down the road they actually complained that there wasn’t enough money being spent. They should thank their lucky stars that they weren’t in power because, had they been, they would have done exactly the same as Fianna Fáil.

The  Labour party sold its soul for power and are now going to pay the price and still Joan Burton, who will have a tough job getting herself re-elected, is trying to claim credit for the “recovery”. Fianna Fáil will not admit that there is no difference ideologically between themselves and Fine Gael. They are trying to portray themselves as the champions of the people yet their record in power is not good. Sinn Fein have the luxury of being untested in government so they can promise a better life for everyone and much like the other left wing parties and groupings, there are a lot of people out there who like their message and are ready to vote for an alternative type of administration. The problem is the cost of all the services that people expect for nothing. At the end of the day somebody has to pay. Curiously there is no mention of water charges. I thought it would be a big talking point but they all seem to have forgotten about it. The present administration are the only ones who haven’t promised to scrap Irish Water so, if there is a change,  we will have one less bill to face. How will we then pay for the many repairs that are necessary to bring our water supply up to scratch?

The health service, or lack of same, is causing most problems. To his credit, Richard Boyd Barrett made a good point when he said that much of the problems in A & E departments was caused by the closing of units in local hospitals. Centres of excellence were supposed to be the answer but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that if you close down a service in one place, you create a backlog in another. There is no easy fix but, apart from the major parties promising more primary care, nobody has come up with a plausible solution. We are stuck between the British model which provides health care for all, and the American model where only those who can afford it get help. It is the biggest problem facing the incoming government, no matter what the make-up is. There is now, possibly for the first time, a real choice to be made between right and left wing politics.

If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had any sense they would form a coalition and have the numbers necessary to take the bold decisions necessary to get this country going. “Let’s keep the recovery going” is another slogan that is beginning to grate on the ear. In this neck of the woods we could ask “what recovery”?  My uncle-in-law, Martin Keeffe, once said to me, “remember that Ireland finishes at the Red Cow”. He wasn’t too far wrong. Where are the jobs around here? Most of our young people are still in Australia, Canada or some other country because there is nothing here for them. SMEs are suffering from a lack of funding because the banks who were bailed out by us refuse to give them the necessary finance to develop their businesses. We still owe a big chunk of money to pay back our “friends” in Europe so let us tell it like it is. We are not yet out of the woods so it is no time for politicians to be promising the sun, moon and stars. We need statesmen and women like never before; people who will put the good of the nation before their own party, in other words we need real leaders. Listening to and looking at the “leaders”  in last night’s debate, I am sorry to say that none of them are the real deal. It will be interesting to see how the election will go. Maybe Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will eventually forget civil war differences and come together. Stranger things have happened.

“Reality is an illusion caused by the lack of alcohol”

Domhnall de Barra