Hugely fun, high-energy musical ‘The House on Cedarwood Drive’ at The Hawk’s Well next week

BOOKINGS are now open for a fabulous new musical ‘The House on Cedarwood Drive’ by Shaun Purcell which will run for three nights, November 24-26, at The Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo.

Written and directed by Shaun Purcell, who offers uniquely Sligo settings for this musical, it’s a high energy, hugely funny and massively entertaining production. Romance, family dramas and domestic pets are some of the ingredients served up. Shaun is well-known to Sligo audiences and the north-west theatre family, but long before his Sligo days he was involved in writing musicals professionally in London and Dublin in the 90s.

He hadn’t written anything for a number of years, but that has changed dramatically – this production ‘The House on Cedarwood Drive’ is his uniquely ‘local’ sixth musical.

Asked to give some idea of what audiences can expect, he explains how it follows a family who make a new start in ‘Cedarwood Drive’ unaware that the ghosts of the Newcombe sisters are already in residence.

The family move into a house in Sligo, on Cedarwood Drive, and it turns out the house is haunted by two sisters and a cat – lots of room there for fun and games, emotion and a little madness.

While not giving too much away to audiences for the show, you will have to watch out for some of the main characters, a girl who has boy trouble, a 14-year-old boy who is a dancer and a 12-year-old girl who is coming to terms with having to move to a new house without her mum.

“It is set in Sligo, a number of the dances are placed in Rockwood Parade and there are scenes of Sligo and there are ‘a few young fellas’ who are characters ‘shaping about Sligo’,” Shaun explains.

A fun family show, lots of laughs are guaranteed and you can expect to be singing along afterwards.

“A family show, with lots of laughs, people will leave the theatre singing,” he told the Sligo Weekender.

The company presenting this latest show, the brilliantly named ‘The Mad Ravens Theatre Company’, has presented all their musicals in Sligo at the Hawk’s Well Theatre.

The shows are: The Raven Beckons, Requiem for Julie, Aisling, The Apprentice and The Boy from the Far Side of the Moon which was at dress rehearsal stage in March 2020 when Covid restrictions ended all live theatre and much more.

Shaun intends to present that show in due course, but in the interim he wrote this most recent production ‘The House on Cedarwood Drive’, again with a uniquely Sligo setting. Shaun adds that this show is “unique to Sligo” and continues that tradition of offering original, new material. He said the theatre group ‘The Mad Ravens’ works to encourage and develop new talent while also employing from the arts world.

“We are a non-profit making organisation, none of us take money out of it, it’s a good night out and that is what we want to push and achieve for those who attend,” he added.

To book go to boxoffice@hawkswell. com or call 071 916 1518.