PS: Cecelia is moving on to the next stage
Cecelia Ahern and Hilary Swank at the premiere of 'PS. I Love You, in Dublin in December last year
Cecelia Ahern is taking her career to the next stage. Already a worldwide bestselling author and the creator of the hit TV series 'Samantha Who?' in the US, Cecelia has now written her first work for the stage.
The play, which is a one-woman show called 'Mrs Whippy', will be staged in Dublin in October, starring Dublin actress Marion O'Dwyer.
O'Dwyer, a highly regarded actress who co-starred with Anjelica Huston in the film 'Agnes Browne', also has a long list of TV credits to her name, including 'Ballykissangel' and 'The British Ambassador'.
The play will be directed by veteran theatre director Michael Scott, whose work ranges from the Thomas Kilroy adaptation of Ibsen's 'Ghosts', for the Abbey, to 'Love Letters', at the Tivoli last April.
'Mrs Whippy' is the bitter- sweet story of a 46-year- Dublin woman called Emelda, who is going through a rough time in her life.
Her husband, Charlie, has just left her for a 23-year-old dancer. As if that was not hard enough to cope with, her five difficult sons all worship their father and blame Emelda for his leaving. And because she's on her own now and money is tight, on top of everything else she has to struggle with a new job at the local supermarket.
For comfort she turns to her only true friend -- ice cream. It's her consolation, providing a little happiness as she dreams about the past, about the whys and the wherefores and the what- might-have-beens in her life.
She seems to be at a stage where it would be easy to give up hope of ever finding love and happiness again. But lately there's a handsome man driving the ice-cream van. And it's just possible that Emelda's story, which does not hide the pain, suffering and family strife that a situation like hers brings with it, may have a happy ending after all.
Those who have read the story say it's heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time.
It has the uniquely human touch that has made Cecelia Ahern a bestselling author, funny and sad, realistic and romantic, all at the same time. It's also perfect for the stage, although the original story has been reshaped and extended by Cecelia to give a real in-depth look into one woman's life.
The play will run at the spacious, refurbished Liberty Hall Theatre from October 28 to the end of November, with previews from October 22. Full details of booking arrangements will be released on September 17, when Ms Ahern will be in Dublin for the press announcement for the show. The play is based on an early novella, also called 'Mrs Whippy', by Ms Ahern, which was published in 2006 by New Island in its Open Door series aimed at improving the reading skills of adult readers. Many top name authors, such as Nick Hornby, Roddy Doyle and Marian Keyes, have also written short books for the series. Cecelia's earnings are a closely guarded secret, but even without her substantial film and TV royalties, a very conservative estimate would be that she has earned between €1 and €2 per book sold -- and she has sold 10 million books .
- John Spain Books Editor
