My Valentine's  Boy Derry Play - video Dailymotion

Derry Journal

My Valentine’s Boy aims to tackle the tragedy of gambling addiction here in the North but the play approaches the subject with some Derry witty dark humour.

Transcript

00:00First off, could you just introduce yourself, please?

00:02My name's Martin O'Brien.

00:04And Martin, can you tell me about your play, what it's called,

00:07and kind of like a quick introduction to it?

00:09The play is called My Valentine's Boy, and it's set on Valentine's Day in Belfast.

00:14There's a dairy couple up there for the day.

00:17They go away every Valentine's Day.

00:19They meet another couple, Julie and Jerry,

00:26and because of the meeting they discover that Jerry has a bit of a problem with gambling,

00:33and Kevin used to have a problem, so he tries to help him,

00:37but it's like talking to a brick wall.

00:40He's not listening.

00:42And we find out that everybody, all the main characters, do nothing but lie.

00:47The preacher, Elvis, Leo, the bankrupt bookmaker,

00:52they bring the light side of it,

00:56but it's about a gambling addiction story,

01:00but we try to draw the audience in with humour first,

01:05and then we get the message across, hopefully, on the light.

01:10But it's definitely a good play to come and see.

01:13If you have anybody in your family that has a problem with gambling,

01:18it's one of the biggest addictions at the moment in Northern Ireland.

01:24Can you tell us what inspired this play?

01:27What made you decide to write it down and bring it forward?

01:31Well, my own life story would have been the inspiration behind it,

01:35but it's not my story by no means.

01:38It's a story from all the people I've met over the years that have been in recovery.

01:45It's a mixture of a lot of different people.

01:50As it says, it's based on a true story,

01:53but it probably would have been better if it was based on true stories, you know?

01:58Gambling took my life away,

02:01and I just believe that by sending this message, by doing this play,

02:06it might help somebody just go through all this.

02:10Can you introduce yourself, please?

02:12Hello, my name is Linda-Jane O'Neill, and this is...

02:15Cathy McCann, hi.

02:17Hello, and could you just introduce yourself to your characters in this play?

02:20Oh, my name is Julie in the play,

02:23and I play a character who is from Belfast.

02:27My name's Sharon, and I'm married to Kevin, and...

02:32Okay, tell me, what draw you spoke to this play?

02:35Reaching out and trying to do new experiences.

02:39So this is the first time I've ever done anything like this.

02:42Wow.

02:43And Sharon's English, so I had a natural advantage with my accent for once.

02:49So I've been dying to get back into theatre and acting,

02:53and this was a great opportunity, because obviously, you know,

02:56Sharon's in her 50s, I would like to reiterate, I'm just only in my 50s,

03:00but, yeah, this is a great opportunity.

03:05You know, Sharon's in her 50s, she's English,

03:08and I could really relate to the character in other ways as well,

03:11but I don't want to spoil that.

03:13You are kind of clairvoyant, aren't you?

03:15I am clairvoyant, yeah.

03:16Naturally gifted.

03:17Yeah, naturally gifted.

03:18Talented, good-looking.

03:20I don't think the good-looking bit was in the script,

03:22otherwise I wouldn't have auditioned.

03:24Roll with it, darling, roll with it.

03:26Tell us, like, to be in your first acting role,

03:29that must be kind of scary to say, isn't it?

03:31It is so daunting.

03:34Traumatic, even.

03:36But having said that, it has certainly crossed my mind

03:40that I've bitten off more than I can chew,

03:42but do you know what?

03:43With the pros on the team,

03:47they're all keeping me right and giving me extra lessons,

03:51so it's been brilliant.

03:52I've loved the experience, but, yes, it's scary too.

03:55And can you tell me something about your past work?

03:58In terms of acting?

04:00Yeah, in terms of acting.

04:02Well, I haven't actually done anything

04:04for a really, really long time,

04:06but when I was younger, I was in a play,

04:10it was actually an Irish play by an Irish writer,

04:14Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer,

04:16which is a completely different play,

04:18it's a restoration comedy,

04:20and, you know, it started off in the UK

04:24and then we went on a European tour

04:26around Belgium and Germany and France,

04:28so that was a fantastic opportunity I had

04:30when I was really young,

04:32but, you know, many, many years later,

04:35I've come to do this.

04:37And how would you encourage the audience

04:39to come and see this play?

04:41It's just sheer entertainment

04:43from beginning right through to the end.

04:45It covers much laughter,

04:48a few bits of dark humour,

04:50but, yeah, well worth a laugh, well worth a visit.

04:53And I think it's a really,

04:55there's some really, really relatable issues in there,

04:59but also some very important ones,

05:02such as the issues around gambling

05:06and how that's become a real problem

05:10for our community.

05:13Across Northern Ireland,

05:15there's a growing number of people

05:17who are experiencing problems with gambling

05:20and this play really looks at those challenges

05:24and where it can all go wrong very quickly.

05:28And some of the tragic...

05:30Repercussions?

05:32Repercussions is the word I was looking for, yeah.

My Valentine's Boy Derry Play

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