This month, Fermanagh Musical Theatre will be staging Jonathan Larson’s powerful musical production, ‘Rent’, at the Ardhowen Theatre in Enniskillen.

This is a show that has never been performed before in the Fermanagh area and this year’s production team believe that local audiences should experience it.

The show will run from August 16 to August 19 at 8pm each night, with an additional matinee performance at 3pm on August 19.

The production team includes Director, Ryan Moohan; Musical Director, Moya Sweeney; and co-choreographers, Aine Leonard and Shauneen Hamilton.

Moya, who has worked with Fermanagh Musical Theatre for four productions now, highlighted how this show is particularly special for her.

She said: “Rent was the first musical I listened to as a teenager and [I] remember feeling so strongly about the music, storyline and characters.

“I feel incredibly lucky that I get to work on Jonathan Larson’s music with this amazing cast, and really make the show our own.”

Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of a wide range of characters, including Maureen, who deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art.

Her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benny has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends.

Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general.

How these – and other young bohemians – negotiate their dreams, loves, and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this ground-breaking musical.

The stellar cast features Odhran Sweeney, Harry Parkinson, Niamh Carney, Rhys Hopkins, Nadia Stenson, Clodagh Sweeney, Aideen McNamara and Niall Kerr.

The show itself is an emotional rollercoaster, covering many heart-breaking but real to life issues that people face, day to day.

The themes portrayed in the show provide a platform to educate and encourage acceptance, and highlights the AIDS crisis that affected a huge number of the population worldwide during the 1980s and early 90s.

Fermanagh Musical Theatre guarantees you will laugh, you will cry and you will have a huge amount of love for the people that each character represents in this production.

For many years Fermanagh Musical Theatre has built up a great reputation for putting on top-quality musicals in the Ardhowen Theatre and showcasing local talent from the Fermanagh area.

The Rent cast, production team and committee have been working tirelessly to bring this beautiful piece of theatre to Fermanagh, and the group cannot wait for audiences to see the show.

Get your tickets on the Ardhowen website or at the Ardhowen theatre now.

Fermanagh Musical Theatre are also providing tickets at a discounted rate for any LGBT+ people; to avail of this, please contact the group directly via social media platforms.