Megan Thompson is part of a local Theatre Collective from Tallaght; Freshly Ground Theatre. We had a chat with one of their directors Megan Thompson.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background, where did you grow up?
I live in Tallaght and went to St. Marks Community College. I have many interest, I love to read, I love writing, playing the guitar and I love theatre! The first play I was ever in was my schools production of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. I feel in love with theatre due to my involvement with ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and from there I joined Carousel Theatre School in Rua Red, the rest is history.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you all met?
We all became friends at Carousel Theatre School, when we were unfortunately finished there we decided that we really wanted to continue preforming! So in 2014 we decide to write, direct and preform our own play titled ‘The Highs and Lows of the Class of ’15’. It was a wonderful experience! We decided from there to continue the doing what we were doing! Why stop when you are doing something you love? Since there we had our other ‘Inside the Black Box’ and now we are preforming our production of ‘Sucking Dublin’.
Where does Your Passion for Theatre come from?
That is a very hard question to answer, where does a passion from anything come from really? If I had to pick it would be the magic of storytelling that only the theatre can capture. With theatre, you can completely immersed into the story and the emotions that surround it, whether it is a spoken word or dance, theatre can capture your attention in a way not many other forms of storytelling can.
What is your “day-job”?
I am currently in my final year of studying English and History at Trinity College Dublin.
How do you decide which projects to take on?
Sucking Dublin’ has been on the radar for a while. In Carousal, Little Lambs final monologue was regularly used for an exam piece, so everyone was aware and interested in the play. When we met up to decide what to do next, it was something that stuck! It was a play that we were all interest in, it was for people our own age and it had a very strong social message.
What has the creative process been like for this play?
It was really creative for one thing! We decided to make it a collaborative piece, since everyone was so passionate about the play! We all worked together, pooling ideas and helped each other make the piece fit together and flow wonderfully! It was amazing to see everyone enjoy both aspect of theatre – performing and directing – It also really made the piece work! ‘Sucking Dublin is very abstract and bitty, so it was prefect as a collaborative piece as it really captured that disjointed feeling captured in the writing of the play.
What do you hope audiences will take from seeing this show?
I hope they go home with a more opened mind, it was eye opening for me working on this piece how easy it is to brush of figures who would be seen as low members of society without much thought and since this play is seen through a figure from this class, I hope that they audience realise that not one shoe fits all.
What is next for you?
I would love to continue to grow as a group and to continue having as much fun as we do! I would also to write an original full length play for the group! While it has been fun investigating another writer’s work, there is something about an original piece that can not be beat!
SUCKING DUBLIN, Thurs 6th – Sat 8th April, 8:15pm, Civic Theatre Tallaght.
