All The Way Back
By Bernard Farrell
March 1986
The hilarious tale of the turmoil that ensues in the Ryan household in an upmarket residential area of Dublin’s Southside, when the ever-practical Sheila Ryan decides on a course of action to boost the family’s depleted income. Her husband, Brendan, a middle-aged redundant executive, has been out of work for eighteen months and there is a big household to support, as they strive to keep up appearances.
Their rugby-playing son, Paul, works in the bank and is the main breadwinner, while the only other income is from a lodger called Mr. Mulligan, a man with a strange occupation and a dubious past. The Ryan’s other son, Michael, is a trained hairdresser, but unemployed, while flirty daughter Mary is a schoolgirl who likes boys with motorbikes.
The household is completed by the eccentric spinster Aunt Catherine, sister of Brendan Ryan and chief critic of his wife, Sheila. Other characters include Northside builder Davis and his dim-witted son, Bimbo. Then, there is the well-heeled neighbour Bill Patterson, a former rugby international colleague of Brendan Ryan’s, who is held in awe by the latter – although Sheila is determined not to be taken in by him as the drama unfolds
CAST
MICHAEL
AUNT CATHERINE
BRENDAN
MR MULLIGAN
MARY
PAUL
DAVIS
BIMBO
BILL PATERSON
MRS BROPHY
MRS O'SULLIVAN
MISS QUINN
MRS PREDERGAST
Greg Eades
Rosary Morley
Dick White
Neale Webb
Linda Burne
Andrew Wilkie
Robert Durie
Tim Ferguson
Geoff Lovegrove
Lynn Wiley
Hazel Graves
Amanda Jones
Linda Montgomery
CREW
DIRECTOR
STAGE MANAGER
ASSISTED BY
PROPERTIES
PUBLICITY
BUSINESS MANAGER
FRONT OF HOUSE
Jim Lovegrove
Harry Sheppard
Tim Ferguson & Geoff Lovegrove
Barbara Kirk
Amanda Jones
Andrew Ferguson
Brigid Ferguson