“Packed with laugh out loud moments”
“mighty cast delivering a stream of clever dialogue that earned hoots and hollers from an audience that was hooked from the beginning”
“The Devil and Durex is a comedy full of heart that takes its real world subject matter seriously”
“Verdict: Sinfully good”
The Irish Daily Mail
“Brought to life by an incredible cast, each character in this play feels familiar. Each performance is well thought out and consistent. Although comical, there are a number of moments of seriousness throughout and each of these is performed in a thoughtful manner”
“ The Devil and the Durex is definitely worth seeing.”
The Review Hub
“it creates an engaging and comic piece of theatre.”
“As it documents major social change, it has created a fun and warm-hearted piece of theatre”
No More Workhorse
The Devil and Durex
Proudly supported by The Arts Council (Agility Award)
Ran at The Boys School at Smock Alley: April 29 – May 10 @ 8:00pm
“If you are looking for your orgasms Margaret they’ll be out rusting in the field”
Fair Dinkum Theatre presented the world premiere of The Devil and Durex, a comedic look at the 1970’s sexual revolution in a small rural Irish parish. Written by award-winning Australian playwright Nicholas Makin the play made its full stage debut after a ‘rehearsed reading’ to a public audience in collaboration with the Mermaid Arts Centre and The Arts Council.
“Is there nowhere safe? Is there nowhere that a man can rest in peace?”
What’s happened to the women folk? Who is filling their head with all this nonsense? Is it the new television in Maloney’s pub or the books coming over from England - The Joy of Sex! - surely that’s a sin?
Join Tom, Paddy and old mad Willie as they struggle to adjust to their wives’ new found assertiveness and determination to establish their own sexual identity. The accepted order is disappearing before their eyes and their desperate efforts to reassert their dominance are failing. The church watches on of course – perhaps starting to feel the first cracks in its own façade.
With an existentially Irish humour The Devil and Durex focuses on the foibles of ordinary people faced with events beyond their experience. Relationships are re-examined and re-evaluated. At times dark, always funny but ultimately with a strong message – for relationships to survive and prosper they must be based on mutual understanding, equality and respect.
WRITTEN BY Nicholas Makin
DIRECTED BY Kathleen Warner Yeates
LIGHTING DESIGN BY Éinne Ó Connachtáin
SET DESIGN AND PROPS BY Sophie Meehan
COSTUME DESIGN BY Jennifer Keane
SOUND DESIGN BY Éinne Ó Connachtáin
CAST: Carmel Stephens – Sheila (Carmel is currently playing the role of ‘Cora’ on Ros na Rún for TG4.)
Eoin Leahy – Garda O’Brien (Stunt man with a love for acting.)
Gerry Cannon – Conor (Can be seen as Peadar in Say Nothing on Disney+ and as The Bishop of London in Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix.)
Helen O’Brien – Patricia (Recently performed at the Abbey Theatre as part of 24 Hour Plays.)
James Ronan – Joe (Highly regarded emerging talent represented by the Lisa Richards agency.)
Richard Sweetman – Tom (Recently seen in the Antidote Films for their Electoral Commission commercial campaign)
Simon Cunningham – Paddy (ADLI best supporting actor 2024 for portrayal of Reverend John Hale in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible)
Ray Yeates – Willie
