The New Theatre Dublin has, incredibly, found a way to bring its new production of Jackie to expectant audiences despite current restrictions: the company will stage the show outdoors, at the Yeats Memorial in St Stephen’s Green, to ensure that patrons can safely attend.
Speaking to The University Times, Amy O’Dwyer, who plays the eponymous protagonist Jackie, says that the show faced a number obstacles on the road to performance. “It’s been postponed a few times – it was due to start in March, then we were due to open on Tuesday [September 22nd] but the new restrictions came in, so now we’re staging it outside with the help of the OPW [Office of Public Works], who allowed us to use the Yeats Memorial.”
The show centres around Jackie Onassis and her close friendship with a pastor, Father Leonard, in the years before her marriage to John F. Kennedy. It focuses on “a more relaxed, more human Jackie”, O’Dwyer tells me.
O’Dwyer describes the show as a “fantastic piece to be part of” and says it was great to have the playwright Gerard Humphreys in the room so that the team could shape the play to their vision and “go hard on the editing” with his permission.
She adds that many people hold preconceived impressions of Jackie – something O’Dwyer herself was initially guilty of – and the production will have to work against those. “When I started, I had my own visions of her but when I did more research, looking at photos and clips of her, I got a different sense of who she was. She was a very intelligent woman, very witty. We see a very managed version of her in media and photos – she has a smile that was perfected. She was very much her husband’s wife.”
O’Dwyer points out the timeliness of the production, given that many of the events playing out in the background of the play’s era parallel contemporary issues – particularly the sexual revolution and civil rights movements that defined the 1950s and 1960s. “The transition from the 50s to the 60s was a very interesting time in American politics. We think we’ve come a long way since then, but when you really look at what happened then and what’s happening now, you realise there’s a lot of growth that still needs to happen.”
Now that the show will be staged outside, it faces some unique challenges. O’Dwyer has never performed outside before and is both excited and worried about some of the specifics: “My biggest thought has always been how I can show the growth of a character across time and performing outdoors requires a completely different type of acting. Small gestures and subtle cues might get lost.”
Beyond that, there are also practical concerns. “The rain and wind is a big worry, and projection is another. The sound might get lost if the weather is bad”, O’Dwyer says. As such, she advises all prospective audience members that “it’s worth bringing a blanket and cushion to make sure you’re comfortable, and dress for the elements since it might rain!”
“I believe that theatre can change thoughts and make people think”, O’Dwyer adds, “the audience will definitely come away having learned something new”.
Jackie runs in the Yeats Memorial at St Stephen’s Green from September 29th until October 10th. Shows will be performed at 1pm Tuesday through Saturday, with additional performances at 3pm on Friday and Saturday. Tickets range from €16 to €20 and are available on the New Theatre website.
