Play readings focus on the work of Irish playwrights

Spend an Evening with the Irish Playwrights is being presented during the next month at the Benevolent Irish Society’s Irish Cultural Centre in Charlottetown.

Each reading starts at 7:30 p.m., with admission at the door, which opens at 6:30 p.m.

There will also be a light snack at intermission. The centre is located at 582 North River Rd.

Following are the dates, featured plays and their playwrights: Nov. 19 – Pretend Sick, Michael Ginnelly; Nov. 24 – Nobody’s Talking to Me – Tommy Marren; Dec. 8 – Desire under the Elms – Eugene O’Neill; Dec. 15 – Da, Hugh Leonard.

Pretend Sick, which kicks off the series, was one of the plays considered by the Benevolent Irish Society Play Committee for the March 2020 St. Patrick’s Play. Ginnelly

also wrote Wake in the West, which was the popular 2019 St. Patrick’s Week Play at the Benevolent Irish Society.

Pretend Sick is a three-act comedy with two scenes in the second act. There is a time lapse of three months between the second and third act.

Katie is a widow who lives in a rural farmhouse with her adult daughter and son. Katie is interfering with her daughter, Mary, getting married and leaving the household by pretending to be sick. Martin, Mary’s current suitor, is quite slow off the mark, which suits Katie just fine. Sean, Katie’s son is a bit of a sly character and not a terribly good farmer.

Enter Matt, an English tourist visiting Ireland who has fallen in love with the area and very quickly with Mary.