This is the first introduction to the cast and characters of our upcoming production of Stags and Hens by Willy Russell. And first off, it's the characters of Kav and Frances.

Played by Geoff Warner Clayton, Kav is the chirpy, cheery one of the lads out on Dave's messy stag do. He also has quite the artistic streak in him with a serious talent for redecorating the walls of Liverpool's many run down bogs. Geoff Warner Clayton has previously appeared with Devious Theatre in Smitten as Mark.

Played by Maria Murray, Frances is the best friend of Linda, the bride. Outspoken, ballsy and frequently chain smoking, Frances is the hen who makes sure there's no misbehaving going on. Especially where Linda is involved. Maria Murray has previously appeared with Devious Theatre in Cannibal! The Musical, Trainspotting, Smitten and The War Of The Worlds.

The character panels are designed by our own Mr. Paddy Dunne and there's plenty more to come over the next three weeks leading into the show. Stags and Hens plays The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from July 21st - 25th. Bookings are now available on 056 - 7761674.

As part of this weekends Shakespeare In The House festival taking place in Rothe House, Kilkenny, us Devious folks are performing a 45 minute mixed bag of mad Bard entitled Shakespeare In Bits.

With Stags and Hens being full tilt ahead, it wasn't possible for us to stage a full on Shakespeare production so we decided to do something to complement the fine work that will no doubt be done by the good thespians of Dreamstuff Youth Theatre.

The production is made up of various Shakespeare related sketches (Shakespeare's editor and a 16th centruy version of the Bale rant with William Shakespeare walking in front of the 'cantelbras'), some Shakespeare based works (The Reduced Shakespeare Company, Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead), some devised Shakespeare pieces, some monologues and a whole lot of nice little bridging devices between. It's going to be a crash course in Shakespeare for the ADD generation.

With a troupe of 7 actors (all well versed in the playing of Shakespeare), this should be a fast paced mish mash of a mixed bag of Shakespeare related hi-jinks. The actors involved are Scott Barriscale, Stephen Colfer, John Doran, Ken McGuire, Kevin Mooney, Niamh Moroney and John Morton.

The festival takes place all over the weekend and there's plenty going on throughout the rather splendid setting of Rothe House for the duration of the two days. And it's all entirely free! So do pop along. Bring rotten vegetables if needs be. Just save them for the kids.

Shakespeare In Bits will be performed at 3pm on Saturday June 27th in Rothe House and at 2pm on Sunday 28th.

We’re almost a month away from the opening night of Stags and Hens and as we edge ever closer, we hope to roll out some exciting promotional material for the show! Presented here is our final poster for the show which sees the cast assembled in a make-shift, multi-coloured grid of toilet cubicles - each stall telling a story of it’s own.

The poster features almost all of our principle characters: Robbie (John Morton) and Billy (Stephen Colfer) have a bit of banter, Carol (Lynsey Moran) attempts to comfort an overly emotional Maureen (Mairead Kiernan), Francis (Maria Murray) tries to catch a glimpse of just what Kav (Geoff Warner Clayton) is scrawling on the wall, Eddie (Ken McGuire) and Bernadette (Ciara Donegan) do a bit of flirting, all the while, Dave (John Doran) the groom lies passed out on the floor and bride-to-be Linda (Roisin O Reilly) sits alone, pondering what the hell it’s all about.

In the run up to the show, we hope to take a closer look at each cubicle and get to know our cast a bit better, so keep an eye on DeviousTheatre.com for future updates.

Stags and Hens by Willy Russell, takes to the stage at the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from the 21st to the 25th of July at 8pm nightly. Tickets are on sale now and can be booked at +353 56 61674.