taboo

TABOO by John Morton

There was a boy and a girl and somehow, they met. Lily doesn’t get out much. Tom finds it hard to meet new people. And now they’re having their first date. Lily cooks a three-course meal. Tom brings flowers and wine. On the surface, everything seems fine. But in the modern world, dating is a surprisingly complex thing with a lot of unwritten rules. There are certain things you shouldn’t do on a first date. And then there are certain things you shouldn’t do at all.

Recommended age 14+

Red ‘n Blue Theatre Company was founded by husband and wife Dylan Kennedy and Jenny Fennessy. Their debut production, LOVESONG sold out 16 performances across Cork, Waterford and Dublin. It was nominated for 5 Waterford News and Star Green Room awards, including Outstanding Event of the Year, Best Play, Best Director and won awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Their second production, THE FLAGS was nominated for a further 6 Waterford News and Star Green Room awards, including and won Best Play of the Year 2022, Best Set and Best Supporting Actress (Jenny Fennessy).

This production is supported by Cork City Council Arts Office and Cork County Council.

Dylan Kennedy
Dylan trained at The East 15 Acting School. His credits include, Philadelphia Here I Come (Donmar Warehouse), Katie Roche (Abbey Theatre), Our Tethered Kin (Broken Crow) Hansel and Gretel (The National Theatre), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), All Over Town (Project Arts Centre, Dublin), Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland), Romeo and Juliet, Mid Summer Night’s Dream (Antic Disposition), Forever House (The Drum, Plymouth), Mind Walking (Band Bazi), Autumn Fire (Finborough Theatre), The Bay (Theatre 503), His directing credits include Lovesong (Garter Lane) and The Flags (Cork Arts Theatre) for Red ‘n Blue Theatre Company.

Jenny Fennessy
Jenny is an acting graduate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. TV credits include Call the Midwife (BBC) and The Doireann Project and Seriously, Sinéad? (RTE). Theatre credits include Greg Doran’s King Lear and Melly Still’s Cymbeline (Royal Shakespeare Company), Richard Eyre’s Liola (National Theatre, London), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and Emilia in Othello (Mill Productions), A Life (Finborough Theatre), The Flags (Cork Arts Theatre, Garter Lane), Lovesong (Garter Lane, Civic Theatre, Cork Arts Theatre), There’s Always Tomorrow and The Bus (Barnstorm Theatre Company), The Salvage Shop (Garter Lane), Riders to the Sea (Fractured Lines), King Lear, Macbeth and Othello (Theatre Royal). Jenny was one of the finalists for the Michael Bryant Verse Speaking Award at the National Theatre, London. She won the Waterford News and Star Green Room Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Ursula in The Flags. She is a very experienced voice over actor.

John Morton
John is the creator and writer of the TV series Dead Still, for which he won an Edgar Award for Best TV Episode Teleplay. He has written and directed several short films including Smitten for RTÉ Storyland, and also wrote the award winning shorts Seanie & Flo, Kathleen and Swerve. For the stage John has written the plays Denouement (Lyric Theatre/Traverse), Taboo (White Label), War Of Attrition, Scratcher, Smitten and Heart Shaped Vinyl (Devious Theatre). With Peter McGann, he co-wrote the Irish historical plays The Hellfire Squad and The Roaring Banshees. He also wrote the adaptation of Thomas Kilroy’s novel The Big Chapel (Asylum/Abbey Theatre/Kilkenny Arts Festival) which was nominated in three categories at Irish Times Theatre Awards 2020. John is a founding member of Devious Theatre in Kilkenny and White Label in Dublin. He is currently writing comedy drama pilot script The Continental Method for Deadpan Pictures Limited.

Shane Dempsey
Shane trained at The National Theatre Studio and E15 Acting School. For the National: Hamlet (as movement director) Translations (as staff director). Other productions include: Shining City (as assistant director) at Theatre Royal Stratford East; rob steal swindle at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts; Continuity and The Non-Stop Connolly Show at the Finborough; About Last Night and Seven Jewish Children at the Arcola; The Master and Margarita at the Bussey Building and Te Pooka, Edinburgh; and The Bay at Theatre503, The Space and Te Pooka, Edinburgh. He is also the founding member of Fragments, a dynamic physical ensemble in London working across theatre and film. He is currently developing a devised project with young people on The Climate Emergency for The Donmar Warehouse.