I remember vividly waking up on the morning of 14 February 1981 to the news of the Stardust tragedy. It was numbing news, that many young people had died tragically and needlessly following a Valentine’s Day party in a nightclub in Artane, Dublin. Being a Saturday, the day was spent listening to the radio as the news of what had occurred became a horrible reality.

Many families are today still painfully grieving the loss of loved ones

In the unfolding hours and days we were to learn that 48 teenagers, more than one in 10 of all the people who attended the event, died. Incredibly, almost four decades later the cause of the tragedy has never been established, and many families are today still painfully grieving the loss of loved ones.

Recently a new play about the subject, 48, debuted at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin and now it continues a run at the Viking Theatre in Clontarf. This will be followed by two nights at the Whale Theatre in Greystones, Co Wicklow, and, almost on the eve of the anniversary of the tragedy, one night at Axis in Ballymun. As 2021 will represent the 40th commemoration of one of the most unforgettable events in our history, it would be appropriate that the play should get a wider audience and travel the country.

Kane has an inextricable link to the tragedy as her parents were both in the Stardust on the night

While the subject matter is a dark tale of tragedy, the play itself is best described as a tragicomedy. It marks the writing debut for stage of Gemma Kane, a Dublin actor who also plays one of the four leading roles in the play. Kane has an inextricable link to the tragedy as her parents were both in the Stardust on the night, her father having planned to propose to his then-girlfriend, now wife, that evening.

Kane doesn’t use that story however to build her story upon, though she does admit that her first ever play is obviously inspired by her parents’ escape on the night. Being a native of Artane, Kane is especially pleased that the play is being staged at the Viking Theatre, its first performance on the northside of Dublin.

I have chosen to present a heartfelt, fun-loving and comic narrative

The story follows four young friends through the ups and downs of working-class Dublin life; the pitfalls of unemployment, the joys of falling in love, mad characters in impoverished communities and the hardships of prickly friendships and family feuds.

“Though the play is rooted in a harrowing disaster, I have chosen to present a heartfelt, fun-loving and comic narrative in the lead up to that fateful night,” Kane explains.

The play 48 is also a celebration of a time that many will readily identify with and there are plenty of laughs as we see the young people dressed to the nines in their denims and big, brash hairstyles, enjoying life to the background of unforgettable music that ranges in musical styles from Blondie to The Carpenters.

Kane is joined on stage by three other actors, Emily Fox, Laurence Falconer and Niall O’Brien and the quartet all bring an authenticity to the play that is palpable. While the play deals with the happenings of the night in question, it is more than that and gives further generations a real feel for what Dublin was like at the time.

Hopefully more theatres around the country will seek to put this play on and give it the exposure its subject and its staging deserves. It is a production by the No Desserts Theatre Company.

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