Lay Me Down Softly

Playwright Billy Roche does a nice line in harking back to times past. It’s not mere nostalgia, mind, he has a real knack for tapping into the zeitgeist of another era, his characters embodying the pleasure and pain, expectations and frustrations, a warts-and-all microcosm of rural Ireland. There’s also a yen for music in there too, Roche himself having once been the angular frontman for The Roche Band. Lay Me Down Softly is his most recent play, first seen at the Peacock in 2008 and now at Project in a new production (previews from Tue 8 March, opens Thur 10) following its sell-out run during last year’s Wexford Opera Festival. It’s 1962, and the burlesque world of Delaney’s Travelling Roadshow, with its enticing Boxing Booth, takes centre stage. Step on up, ladies and gentlemen, smell it, sense it, feel it, hear it, and become part of this dark and dangerous story, a mythic tale of love and loss. Meet Theo, the charismatic, violent ringmaster and his Carmen-like lover Lily. Rub shoulders with Peadar, Theo’s tried and not-so-trusted sidekick; the limping Junior, gentle and handsome; the waif-like Emer, searching for her runaway father; and the vain prizefighter Dean, who takes on all comers on a nightly basis – until a challenge from a professional fighter throws a spanner in the works. Playwirght doubles up as director, with a cast that includes Gary Lydon, Pagan McGrath, Lesley McGuire, Anthony Morris, Dermot Murphy and Michael O’Hagan. Design is by Wexford’s Bui Bolg with lighting by Paul Keogan. Runs til Sat 2 April. www.projectartscentre.ie