The Watersedge Community Drama Group recently performed their production of The Family Feud, a play directed by Paul Kennedy, in the RICC. The drama group has been performing for about seven years now and their usual brand of light humour and variety has not failed audiences to date.
This year, however, they took a leap of faith and changed the format, testing the waters with their loyal fans. “We wanted to credit the audience with the intelligence it takes to accept this new direction. We thought: let’s try something else and see how it goes,” said Philip Murphy, who had two parts in the play. Philip was in favour of the new departure. Hiding within the Dublin humour are the serious issues of conflict, murder and death.
The magic of theatre provided a timeline with reverse chronology, opening with a funeral scene and working backwards to reveal the explanation for the death in the finale.
According to the group, The Family Feud explores the struggle to find order and justice in a world where hysteria and accusation are rife.
However, the dark themes were interjected with the humour that has become the hallmark of the drama group, with characters like the crazy arsonist, the deranged Ban Garda and the ghost adding the balance.
After the show NewsFour spoke to Philip Murphy, who said, “The play was written for the community by the community. So far the feedback has been positive.”
This year’s performance saw 15 members of the group displaying their acting skills onstage. Watersedge describe themselves as more of an acting class than an amateur dramatic group. They will be starting again in September with some improvisation that will be the raw ingredients of next year’s play in the RICC.
Anyone who is interested in joining the group can contact Philip Murphy on 087 278 9383.
By Maria Shields O’Kelly
