Digging up the past in Connemara

Hammering on the skull: Mairtin (Sabian Coomber-Nickerson) gleefully learns Mick's (Ayden Malone) technique for disposing of unwanted mortal remains. Picture supplied

This is a play that redefines the concept of graveyard humour, mainly as much of it takes place in a cemetery.

Martin McDonagh's A Skull in Connemara is the latest offering by Gisborne Unity Theatre and opens on Friday, June 3.

This production has been a long time in the making, with stalwart director Norman Maclean at the helm.

Postponed from April 1 when one of the cast came down with Covid-19, and then with further travails as the lighting man and then the director himself had to undergo surgery, the show is now ready to roll with its mix of Irish west country discord and black humour.

“It's written by Martin McDonagh and it's absolutely amazing,” said production manager Jill White.

“It has the playwright's characteristically warped sense of humour and love of bizarre, which holds strong appeal for Norman.”

The play is the second in McDonagh's Leenane Trilogy, and for the movie buffs among us McDonagh also wrote and directed the acclaimed movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

“The cast have been working together absolutely incredibly right from the beginning, and have embraced their roles,” Ms White said.

“They have been a pleasure to direct, they worked on the accents and in Norman's absence they want it to be the best play it can be.”

Without giving any spoilers away, the plot revolves around a small town where the cemetery has run out of space, and every year they have to dig up the bones of those who have been there for seven years to make way for new arrivals. They find that one set of bones is missing.

“They get all the bones from the graves and they have to smash them up on the dining room table. They have wooden mallets and smash three skulls per performance,” Ms White said.

“It's quite irreverent but very funny.”

Mr Maclean has directed three of McDonagh's plays previously and this one shows his polished touch both with the material and in guiding the actors through their paces.

A Skull in Connemara opens at Unity Theatre, 209 Ormond Road, Friday, June 3, and runs to Saturday, June 11. Evening shows are at 7.30pm and the Sunday matinee is on at 3.30pm. Tickets from eventfinda.co.nz or i-SITE.