The GAA based comedy ‘The Pull’ is being staged in two Offaly localities in March this year. On Thursday, March 5, Ferbane/Belmont Minor GAA club will host the production at Gallen Community School in Ferbane, while on Friday, March 27, Shinrone Drama Group and the Tidy Towns Committee will welcome the show to the Shinrone Community Centre. The show will commence at 8pm on both nights, and admission is just €10.
Half Solid Productions is the company behind the globetrotting show, and they are continually staging ‘The Pull’ in venues across Ireland, the UK, and America. Written by former Irish Independent GAA correspondent Liam Horan, and fellow Mayo writer and actor John Corless, ‘The Pull’ tells the story of the fundraising efforts of a hapless GAA club who have found themselves in €1,000 worth of debt. Liam was the creator of the popular 'Championship Man' series on RTE Radio One, while John is a well-known poet in the Connacht region. Both men have combined their experiences to create this popular show.
Based on the fictional Ballybore GAA club, the play follows the people involved in the club as they decide to pull a truck around their home town in order to raise funds and break a Guinness World Record. “Chaos ensues and they end up getting in way over their heads,” Liam Horan explained.
The club itself is an anomaly as it claims its foundation pre-dates the GAA organisation by some 130 years. Not to be undone by a ‘not-so-colossal’ debt of €1,000, which “feels like a million euro” to the humble Ballybore boys, a ‘thoroughly colossal’ fundraising effort is formulated in the shape of the ‘muck-shifting’ truck pull.
Instead of a collaborated club effort, the responsibility falls on “the usual one or two,” and the plan doesn’t exactly pan out as expected. “In fact, the plan itself is not the most convincing document ever produced,” Horan quipped. “In the midst of the panic and cack-handed attempts at fundraising, there are a number of sub-plots that arise to keep the crowd entertained,” he added.
Ironically, the play is now being used by GAA clubs throughout the country as a fundraising night, and it is receiving truckloads of praise along the way: “Through the chair, we would highly recommend The Pull. The talent and energy of the guys in Half Solid Productions is second to none,” James Deane, PRO of the Shannon Gaels club from Roscommon said. “If you’ve ever been to a GAA meeting, you’ll enjoy it – even if you haven’t, you will still recognise the characters from your local community. John and Liam brought us on a very entertaining journey without us ever leaving our seats,” Mike McMahon from Knockaderry GAA club in Limerick added.
Want to make some money for your club? How about hosting The Pull? For all bookings, contact Liam Horan at info@halfsolid.com or on 087-9185867. For more information on the Ferbane and Shinrone shows, visit www.halfsolid.com.
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