Playwright Colette Cullen introduces her new work Tender Mercies, a theatrical journey 'through the highs and lows of a life that finally spiralled out of control', coming to Dublin's New Theatre this April.
In my new play Tender Mercies, Fair City's Sorcha Furlong, embodies a fictional character called Mary Fortune and gives her and those like her a voice.
The character is inspired by a local newspaper report about the 'body of a woman dead for a year'. The play provides a possible explanation of how this extraordinary occurrence might have happened.
It all started when I came across that headline in a local North Dublin newspaper which stopped me in my tracks: 'Body of woman dead for a year, only discovered when bank inquired about a debt'.
The article, reporting on her inquest, went on to state that the cause of her death could not be determined. She was last known to have been alive almost a year before the grim discovery. There were no suspicious circumstances pertaining to her death and an ‘open verdict’ was recorded. I couldn’t stop thinking about this woman and felt compelled to find out more.
It might make for dark subject matter, but the play is also very funny.
Copies of the Coroner’s report, her death notice and birth certificate yielded the stark facts which made them all the more disturbing. The autopsy report stated that 'The deceased was located in her bed in a mummified state. Death was pronounced almost a year after her last sighting. She had a long history of chronic alcoholism, major depression and self-harm. She was also suffering from hyperlipidaemia.'
According to her death notice she was 'Very sadly missed by her loving family, relatives and friends'. Her birth certificate revealed she’d been a twin.
Visits to the road where she grew up, the road where she lived when she was married and the apartment building where she died, all on Dublin’s northside, left so many unanswered questions. Why had she lain dead in her apartment for a year before anyone noticed - and then only when the building society contacted her brother about a loan he’d guaranteed? She’d attended a mental health institution, had a GP, a psychiatrist, a pharmacist and received disability benefit, as well as having a 'loving family, relatives and friends'. Why did no-one notice that she hadn’t been seen in almost a year, hadn’t collected her disability benefit and hadn’t been in for her prescribed medication?
It might make for dark subject matter, but the play is also very funny. A work-in-progress version originated in Scene + Heard and it was also part of the New Theatre’s New Writing Week in 2023. Some of the feedback we received described it as 'a mixture of dark comedy and bitter tragedy".
Now it's running in The New Theatre in Dublin this April. Anthony Fox, a great supporter of me and my play, has put together an incredible team, with Caroline FitzGerald directing.
Come along and see for yourself. We promise you’ll be thinking of Mary Fortune long after the lights go down.
Tender Mercies is at The New Theatre, Dublin from April 23rd to April 27th, with a matinee performance on April 27th - find out more here.
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