Murder, humour, and humanity shine in three one-act plays

The first play, ‘Even Numbers’, from the Devenish Drama Group, written by Tony Domaille and directed by Marty McManus, was a dark look at the mind of a murderess, prowling in tracksuits as she is assessed by a psychiatrist to determine if she is mad or bad.

The cast of Even Numbers (Image: Enniskillen Drama Festival)

Mary Anne (played with real venom by Katie Chapman) has poisoned five people with no other rational reason than a mad desire for even numbers.

In her deranged world, there must be two of everything, so when she poisons her first victim, she is compelled to kill another, as she can’t abide a world that has odd numbers.

Under pressure, psychiatrist Dr. Vincent (April McGuigan) must determine the highly-volatile Mary Anne’s sanity.

There's also the greedy, brassy defence barrister Ella (Amy Hughes) to consider - she's desperate for a legal loophole, as opposed to the truth, to get her client off the hook ...

The second play was something completely different from the Ballyshannon Players as it was a one-man show from the very experienced Richard Hurst, who played Lem Putt, the tsar of late 19th and 20th Century toilets which were called 'privys' and were usually located at the bottom of a garden outside the house.

Richard Hurst, Ballyshannon Drama Society (Image: Enniskillen Drama Festival)

The play is entitled ‘The Specialist’, with Putt a folksy privy builder, with Hurst’s homely tones telling in a gentle but bragging way of just how good he is at his jobs.

Mercifully, the play does not descend into crude ‘Carry On’-type lavatory humour.

A one-man show will test even the most experienced of actors, but Hurst manages to hold his nerve and the audience as he extols the benefits of his vast experience.

Hurst captures an American accent well and makes good use of his clay pipe, adding to his old-world wisdom in a credible and compelling performance.

Finally, the last play, 'Waiting For You', written by Mark O’Leary and directed by Garrison native Ciara O’Flanagan, skillfully tells the story of how two very different people eventually connect while in a waiting room for a doctor.

The cast of Waiting For You, Erne Drama. (Image: Enniskillen Drama Festival)

The gobby Emily (played with real Dublin Working Class wit by Scarlett Murphy) is a mum-to-be who happens to be in the same waiting room as the initially shy structural engineer, Brian, delightfully underplayed by Eddie Elliott.

They come from totally different worlds and classes, but by the end of the play, they part in a fond embrace with a message from the eternally earthy Emily.

There's Richard and Bob, one a narcissistic bully, and one a compulsive psychopathic liar, who says he is dying, who make brief cameo appearances.

Their main function is to develop the unlikely growing rapport between the two dramatis personae, with Odhran Martin playing both Richard and Bob with real assertion.

Erin Somerville plays three wacky characters in Una/Penny and Melanie, a flighty woman with an itchy back, a woman with a walking aid, and a deranged woman who brings in a melon in a pram, which she announces as her baby.

These supporting bizarre figures bring out the best in Emily and Brian as she shows him his true vocation, and his sincerity softens her crusty soul.