[caption id="attachment_66597" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Donna O’Connor as Bridie Murphy in “A Night with George.”"]
Donna O'Connor has a problem that most actors would like to have: she fears the night she doesn't get a standing ovation.
She first performed the one-woman play "A Night with George" in West Belfast and then went on to bigger venues in the city, such as the Grand Opera House and the Waterfront Hall. After that, the production was staged at various regional theaters in Northern Ireland.
Next up, New York City.
"A Night with George" will open next Thursday, Sept. 8, at the Times Square Arts Center, 300 West 43rd St. It will play for 21 performances as a part of the 1st Irish Festival
"I'm looking forward to it, but also with a bit of trepidation," said O'Connor, who will be directed by Tony Devlin of Belfast's Brassneck Theatre Company.
"Up to now the audience wanted me to succeed. They were with me," she said. "North Americans that have seen it understood about 75 percent of it, I think."
The origin of the play was a first draft written by her friend Brenda Murphy. "I asked her if I could do a second draft," recalled O'Connor, who has completed a master's degree in Irish writing in English at Queen's University.
The story concerns Bridie Murphy, whose personal life is intimately bound up with the Troubles. O'Connor said that she wanted a work that brought Irish history up to date.
"It's about hope; about coming from a bad place to a good place," she said.
Bridie's husband, who as a youth was their community's "best rioter," was given a long prison term. She is left to raise their child and she eventually gets a college education.
The title refers to Hollywood megastar George Clooney, to whom - or at least a facsimile of him - Bridie tells her story.
"Donna having never acted professionally before was a risk that paid off big time. This part was made for her. She knows the character inside out and I honestly can't imagine any other top-class actress playing the role of Bridie as well as Donna," Devlin said. "She is a natural who embodies the spirit of Bridie Murphy with great aplomb and has made the role her own. Donna O'Connor is Bridie Murphy!"
It's a trip of a lifetime for the actress, but one downside, she said, is leaving behind her husband, two children and two grandchildren.Donna's NY debut
