The Lady in the Van

Summer Production 2024

9th - 13th July

Goodnight Lady

That's a wrap on our production of The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett.

The Lady in the Van tells the mostly true story of Alan Bennett's somewhat strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd, an irritable, eccentric, homeless woman whom Bennett befriended in the 1970s, before letting her park her van in the driveway of his Camden home "for three months".

Congratulations to our fabulous cast, crew, and fantastic director, Rían Glynn, on an absolutely incredible SOLD OUT run!!

Thank you to our committee for the huge amount of work you put in to this show - it takes a village and we're so lucky to have such an amazing bunch of people running, and involved in, our group!

Special thanks to Maynooth Community College who provided us with our venue.

Thank you to the individuals and businesses who donated raffle prizes, to everyone who gave their time to help get the show to the stage, to our Front of House and Stage Crew teams for keeping things running so smoothly, and to Mariana for the wonderful photos. Click here to check them out.

A massive thank you to Insight Theatre Celbridge for providing us with lights for the production, and to Joe Canavan for installing, designing and operating the lighting for us.

Finally, thank you so much to our brilliant audiences. We are blown away by the demand for tickets and the amount of people that wanted to come to see us. The reviews and support have been unbelievable and are very much appreciated. We couldn't do these shows without you! Thank you for helping to make our Summer Production for our 25th anniversary year an unforgettable one 🥰🎭🚍

The Cast of The Lady in the Van

Ann Kelly

Miss Mary Shepherd

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Ann is one of the founding members of An Nuadha Players, helping to launch the group in 1999. Since then, as well as being part of the group’s committee at different times over the years, she has been involved in nearly every single show An Nuadha Players have performed; she has either been in them, directed them (sometimes both at the same time), built sets, been part of the stage crew or helped on front of house. Ann was also a member of Thurles Drama Group for many years, she performed with the Irish Theatre Workshop in Munich, and has been involved in several productions with our neighbouring theatre group, Insight Theatre Celbridge. Ann is delighted to be given the chance to incarnate the irascible Miss Shepherd!
John FitzGibbon-Moore

Young Alan Bennett

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John has been a member of An Nuadha Players since 2002 and has taken part in many of our shows, most recently as Blackbeard in Sinbad, 2023. Other recent roles John has played include Gar Public in ‘Philadelphia Here I Come’ (2022), Chris in ‘All My Sons’ (2019), and multiple roles in ‘Alone it Stands’ (2020 & 2018) with Insight Theatre Celbridge. John teaches Music and Irish locally in Maynooth Community College where he has directed two highly successful shows: The Addams Family (2023) and Legally Blonde (2024), the latter of which has been nominated for 14 awards including Best Director. John is delighted to take part in such a masterfully written play with such a talented production team and cast.
John Bean

Older Alan Bennett

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John has featured regularly in An Nuadha Players’ Pantomimes since 2002 when he played the Sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood. Other pantomime roles include Dandini in Cinderella and Abanazar in Aladdin. He played Joxer Daly in Juno and the Paycock and the title role in The Shaughran, also with An Nuadha Players. He played the role of Joseph Barry in Down at Heel Productions’ War of Independence soap drama podcast, Fractured. He is also a member of North Kildare-based chamber choir Canadh le Chéile. He is enjoying working with this wonderful production team and cast and having the opportunity to bring ‘older’ Alan to the stage.
Maria FitzGibbon

Mrs Bennett / Mam

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Having been Front of House crew for An Nuadha Players pantos for many years, Maria joined the chorus of An Nuadha Players in 2014 for our panto, Little Red Riding Hood. Since then, she has enjoyed being in Twisted! A Wicked Fairytale (2019), Beauty and the Beast (2019), Twisted! A Wicked Fairytale (2022) and Snow White (2022). In a return to her Drama education roots (having qualified as a teacher of Physical Education and Drama in a previous life!) Maria is currently enjoying her part-time studies in The Gaiety School of Acting. Maria is absolutely delighted to be playing the part of Mam in this play with a wonderful cast and talented director.
Matthew De Barra

Rufus

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Matthew can mostly be found backstage in An Nuadha Players productions but has also occasionaly performed on stage, in "Baggage", "The Importance of Being Ernest", and more recently in Insight Theatre's production of "All My Sons".
Katie Noone

Pauline

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Katie has been a member of An Nuadha Players since she was a child, appearing in many pantos and as director for the one act play "Blessed Be the Fruit". Katie has appeared with Insight Theatre on two occasions, for “Our Town” and “Alone it Stands”, and as director last year for "Tarry Flynn". In 2021, she toured the one act drama circuit with Lucan Drama’s play “Contractions”.
Kelly Gamble

Social Worker

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A newbie to An Nuadha Players, Kelly started at age 5 in a range of theatre productions including the Backstage Academy and The Gaiety School of Acting. She also taught dance for 10 years and remains passionate about expression through performance. After focusing her energy on family the last few years, she’s very excited to ‘dip the toe’ back into the water!
Finbarr Coghlan

Underwood

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Finbarr was inducted into An Nuadha Players in 2002, with his “Daughters #1, 2 and 3”, starting with the “Robin Hood” pantomime. He has been involved in numerous pantos, both onstage and backstage, including “Twisted! A Wicked Fairytale”. He also appeared in An Nuadha Players productions such as “The Shaughran”, “Dirt Tracks”, “The Hostage” and “Conquered Not We Were”. With Insight Theatre, Celbridge, Finbarr appeared in some productions, including “Shadow of a Gunman”, “Alone It Stands”, “Our Town” and “Tarry Flynn”. With Lucan Drama, he was in “Winners”, “The Cat and the Moon” and “Don’t Dress for Dinner”. Finbarr is delighted to be in such a good play with such a talented and friendly cast and production team!
John Heveran

Leo

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John has been acting with Insight Theatre Celbridge since 2000 performing in one-acts and 3 acts both at home and on circuit, his latest appearance being as narrator in "Our Town". He has also acted with Hy-Breasal, Lucan and St.Pat's groups and this is his first appearance with An Nuadha Players. Rían also directed John in Alone it Stands with Insight Theatre, Celbridge. John lives in Naas and has recently retired from teaching in Gaelscoil Uí Fhiaich.
Patricia Hanlon

Mam's Doctor

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Patricia joined An Nuadha Players in 2019 and has since then played roles in various pantomimes, including Twisted! A Wicked Fairytale, Beauty and the Beast and Snow White. This is Patricia’s first serious role and is delighted to be part of such a fantastic cast!. She is currently a part time student at the Gaiety School of Acting and is excited for the future and looks forward to new and challenging roles.
Autumn Carey

Interviewer

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Autumn has been a member of An Nuadha Players since 2006. Throughout the past 18 years, she has had the opportunity to contribute to numerous theatrical productions.
Alisha Shiels

Ensemble

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Alisha started in An Nuadha Players in 2023 playing the role of Twittley in our Christmas Pantomime, Sinbad. She loved the community within the group and is absolutely delighted to be in another production led by An Nuadha Players. She is very excited to work alongside a very talented group of people to tell a wonderful story!
 
Dara Reilly

Ensemble

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Dara made his An Nuadha Players debut in 2022 in our Christmas Pantomime, Snow White, where he played the vain ponce, sorry we mean Prince, Egon. Dara has been in numerous shows with The Civic Theatre and Dramatic Action and has a real passion for theatre. He is delighted to be back with An Nuadha Players after the 2023 Christmas panto, Sinbad, where he played the titular character. He can’t wait for everyone to see the show.
Caolainn Hanlon

Ensemble

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Caolainn made her An Nuadha Players debut in last year’s panto, Sinbad, and played the role of Buckle. It was a wonderful experience. Her love of theatre began when she joined Dramatic Action 6 years ago and has only grown since. This is Caolainn’s first experience performing in a play, and so far she’s really enjoyed it.

 

Additionally:

Miss Shepherd’s Doctor - Jack Griffin

Our Director

 
Rían Glynn

Having joined An Nuadha Players as a kid who was too tall to be a kid, Rían has been heavily involved in the group on stage and off stage since 2002. His first principal role came in the 2011 production of The Tale of The Count Formerly Known as Dracula and was quickly followed by playing the titular role in Sinbad (2011). He also had the opportunity to direct his first play with Blue Wine by Rory Griffin in 2015. From 2013-2016, Rían sat on the committee, acting as chairperson for two of those years as well.

Outside of An Nuadha Players, Rían has been involved with Insight Theatre Group in numerous variety nights, On The Outside by Tom Murphy (2013), The Crucible by Arthur Miller (2017) and he also directed the hugely successful Alone It Stands (2018 & 2020).

Rían is incredibly excited by the cast for this show and is looking forward to bringing one of his favourite plays to the stage.

 
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