FUTURE PRODUCTIONS
Puckoon
Based on Spike Milligan’s legendary comic masterpiece which was first published in 1963, Puckoon is a politically true(ish), politically incorrect and profoundly funny tale of a divided island and Ireland.
It’s 1924 and the Boundary Commission from Britain and Ireland is decided on new boundary line between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. After months of haggling over every inch of territory, the commissioners are forced to finish the job in hand, after a bicycle incident destroys the surveyor’s equipment. With all the participants holding down the pencil and much pushing and shoving, the border finds its way down the middle of Puckoon, dividing house from outhouse, man from wife, pub chairs from bars, church from cemetery.
Our hero Dan Maddigan wakes up from his indolence to find cheap beer on the wrong side of the pub, and on a border patrol demanding passports. Puckoon will never be the same again. Something has to be done…
Spike Milligan’s Puckoon is a hilarious and irreverent look at rural community life in a small place in North-West Ireland when the border arrives. He shows us the absurd, hysterical reactions it provokes in the people by this gross intrusion into their private lives.
Puckoon, adapted by Vincent Higgins & directed by Zoë Seaton. Touring throughout Ireland in Spring 2009.
REVIEWS
“Once again, the director Zoe Seaton demonstrates that theatre can be inventive and intelligent without neglecting its fundamental duty to entertain.”
Sunday Times, Bog People, September 2007
“Much of the enjoyment comes through the truthful ensemble performances... The perfect timing of their final exchange sends the audience out into the night beaming with satisfaction.”
Irish Times, The Country Boy, February 2007
“spellbinding spectacle…a world-class production by this innovative, ambitious and risk-taking local company.”
Belfast Telegraph, The Little Mermaid, November 2006
“the extraordinary theatrical invention for which Big Telly is known makes for yet another highly interesting experience.”
Daily Ireland, The Picture of Dorian Gray, February 2006
“Big Telly have established a fine reputation for original and quirky interpretations of Irish Classics in the last couple of years and right from the start, they caught the audience off guard.”
Irish Theatre Magazine, Synge Double Bill, 2005
