Jewel And The Gang
It’s the little play which has achieved a global impact. Ahead of a new run, Little Gem star Neili Conroy explains why this deeply moving tale of familial strife has struck a chord across the world.
Anne Sexton, 30 Mar 2011
When asked about her latest play, actress Neili Conroy can’t resist a pun. “It is a little gem!” she laughs.
The piece in question is playwright Elaine Murphy’s award-winning Little Gem. Feel free to groan.
Little Gem is a slice of life drama, detailing the events of a year of a working class Dublin family. The story unfolds through monologues and is told through the voices of three different women, Kay, Lorraine and Amber.
“They are three generations, a mother, daughter and the granddaughter, and they are three very different characters. I play the mother of the 19-year-old. She is quite a nervous character; she’s had a bad relationship before and she’s a single mother.”
Conroy’s character Lorraine is having a difficult year. When she attacks a customer at work, her boss decides she needs to see a psychiatrist. If that wasn’t bad enough, her new paramour, a decidedly hairy man, can’t seem to, well, rise to the occasion.
Inspired by the women Elaine Murphy met while working part-time at a health organisation, Little Gem deals with some difficult and emotive themes – debilitating illness, abusive relationships, drug addiction, unwanted pregnancies and sexual frustration. This may sound like heavy going, but don’t let that dissuade you. The play investigates serious subject matters with a genuine delicacy of touch and is beautifully written, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny too.
“It’s the best-kept secret,” laughs Conroy. “It keeps going and going. People love it and come back to see it again and again.”
How much of a secret it truly is, though, is debateable. Having premiered at the 2008 Dublin Fringe Festival, Little Gem has been performing to capacity audiences ever since, including seasons in New York, London and Paris and a sell-out tour of Ireland. Reviews have been glowing and the play has received several awards including the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the BBC Northern Ireland Drama Award (Stewart Parker Trust Annual Awards) and an award for the Best Theatre Script by the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild. Before returning to the Olympia in April, the play is off to Australia.
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