Will there be any bombs on milk floats or dancing in caravans on the night?

There’s no milk float bombs or caravan dancing but the audience can expect to see many new things along those absurdity lines, such as a priest fashion show. Of course they’ll all be modelling exactly the same clothes.

Is there any audience interaction during the show?

Apart from clapping and laughter, nothing. Although Fr Jack does do something, in the play, which could be said to be audience interaction, which would be keeping with the spirit of the original TV series because at the end of one episode Fr Jack looks straight into camera and tells us to ‘Feck Off’. So we’ve broken no rules there so to speak.

The series itself was responsible for propelling a number of highly successful actors and comedians into the limelight, including Graham Norton, Tommy Tiernan, Joe Rooney and Jason Byrne. Do you think this could happen with a play?
We’ll have to wait and see.

You got a great response from your sell-out Dublin run. Can Galway audiences expect much of the same antics?

Yes, if it goes anything as well as the run in Dublin then I’ll be very exited. There have only been minor script changes and a touch of re-casting since the Dublin run, so Galway should expect Ted shenanigans of the best sort. In the words of the original actor who played Fr Dick Byrne in the TV series, Maurice O’Donoghue, who saw the show in Dublin, ‘It’s fantastic!’

The original writers of Father Ted Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews have approved the show. This must give the production an added creditability?

Yes, we felt it was essential to get Graham and Arthur’s blessing on the show and we were honoured to do so. We found out Graham was coming to speak in UCD one day, so we cornered him at the drinks reception and showed him our script. His first words were: ‘A priest fashion show? I like it already.’ He was incredibly nice and gave us his full support.

Beginning in the 90s, Father Ted the comedy show won over people across the nation and in Britain. It’s now almost 13 years on; why do you think the show has retained so much success?

Great writing, great concept, great characters, great timing and superb casting. It also had the perfect character dynamic. The relationship between Fr Ted, Fr Dougal, Fr Jack and Mrs Doyle is, as Graham Linehan puts it, like a family. Anyway it had priests in it. You can’t get much funnier than that!

Do you think the success of Father Ted can go on, go on, go on?

I think we’ve already experienced the timelessness of the Father Ted series. After all it’s 13 years later and there’s an annual weeklong celebration praising its name. Long may it continue!

Father Ted – The Divinely Inspired Episode will run from Monday 25 to Friday 29 February at 1pm and 8pm in The Blackbox. Tickets, €12/€9, are available from 091-569777.

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