I’m rediscovering the joy of hobbies and local groups I had left behind

For the past two years, I took on nearly every piece of work that came my way and spent almost every morning, noon and night stooped in front of a screen. Voluntary involvements and hobbies fell by the wayside: singing with the local community choir was parked; my attendance at the weekly Comhrá Gaeilge was sparse; and I had less and less time for reading.

Aside from taking part in a short one-act play last autumn, my involvement in amateur drama has been restricted to reprising two old cameos from musicals.

Of late, I have become aware of the impact this is having on my general well-being and the joy to be got in being alive. The proverb ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ comes to mind, laden with truth and its depiction of a muted existence where joy is in short supply.

Last week, for the first time in a while, I attended a rehearsal with the parish choir as they prepared for Easter. In the course of a short, hourlong rehearsal, I realised how much I missed the pleasure to be found in communal singing. The lift your spirit gets from hearing the collective sound of human voices is hard to beat. I came home ‘buzzing’, as they say.

There is any amount of research done by institutions as renowned as Oxford University to show that singing in a choir does you good from your head to your toes. It improves breathing and posture, as well as activating the brain’s reward system to deliver a deep sense of satisfaction.

It is also a natural painkiller, releasing neurochemicals such as beta-endorphin, not to mention how it helps in the creation and sustaining of friendships.

In the last week, I also got a glimpse of other good stuff I have been missing. The Clare Drama Festival, in its 75th year, is in full swing as I write and is hosting eight plays over eight nights. I attended two performances, including one by my local troupe of players, Sliabh Aughty Drama Group. This year, they presented Same Old Moon by Geraldine Aron, based on the life of the semi-fictitious Brenda Barnes.

It follows her through a rather dysfunctional life spent in the shadow of a distinctly unlikeable father, a mother who spends her life accommodating her husband and a brittle aunt who lives with them. As an adult, Brenda struggles to blossom.

With a cast of 14, the troupe has been on the competition circuit and performing to great acclaim at festivals from Castleisland to Claregalway. Last week, I went to see them perform to a warm and appreciative home crowd, and stayed behind afterwards to meet, greet and congratulate.

After a quick ‘hello’, they turned to strike the set and clear the stage, as they do every night. They took to their task like a well-oiled machine. People, who a few minutes earlier had been graciously accepting the adulation of the audience, were climbing ladders to take down lights, gathering props and dismantling flats, power screwdrivers in hand.

I envied their sense of achievement, camaraderie and solidarity after months in the rehearsal room and weeks on the road.

They are hoping it won’t end there. The festival circuit is competitive and along the way, they have been accumulating marks to earn a place as one of nine finalists in the All-Ireland Finals organised by the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland (ADCI).

This year, the finals for their section — the three-act confined — are being held in my old stomping ground in Laois at a 10-night event hosted by the Mountmellick Drama Festival from April 18 to April 27.

The plays will be performed in the remarkable Mountmellick Community Arts Centre, designed as a cinema by the great architect Michael Scott and built in the early 1950s.

It does not appear in Scott’s collection as he disowned it when the local PP refused to build the porch in accordance with his design.

In its original incarnation, it had 800 velvet upholstered seats and a Western Electric (WE) sound system. In recent years, it was refurbished and remodelled with a smaller 150seat performing space developed in the balcony, while the main part is a theatre used for larger events like the upcoming festival.

What a venue to present the best of amateur drama from across the 32 counties, where play and work will combine to bring Jack and Jacqueline much joy.

‘I realised how much I missed the pleasure of communal singing — the collective sound of human voices is hard to beat’