To coincide with European Drug Awareness Week, Ringsend & District Response to Drugs organised a programme of events aimed at promoting drug awareness in the community.

Officially opened by Lord Mayor, Councillor Joe Doyle, the week began with an exceptional performance by the local Watersedge Drama Group.

Written by News Four’s Tara Gray for drug awareness week, ‘Where Have All The Spoons Gone’ adeptly depicted the devastating effect which drugs have on individuals, their families and local communities.

The play focuses on Louise Clarke, a troubled young woman who in her desperation to be loved and accepted escapes her pain and insecurity through drugs. What initially begins as experimentation quickly transforms into an uncontrollable addiction, catapulting
Louise into an all-encompassing world where the next fix becomes
her only priority.

The play opens with the central character, Louise, excellently performed by Tara Gray, shooting up. Isolated from family and friends, drugs have become her mainstay and her reason for being.

The following scene then examines the origin of Louise’s insecurities: a childhood, marred by addiction and aggression. Her attempts to maintain a sense of belonging is destroyed by her father’s continuous drinking, arguments and abandonment.

Her incessant pleading as her father departs reflects her desperate need for acceptance and understanding. Beseeching that she will be good, she sees her father’s leaving as a personal failing, and is irrevocably scarred as a result.

Her aggressive behaviour towards family and friends masks her loneliness and neediness, but she believes this is fulfilled when she meets Tomo Doyle, who represents everything she yearns for.

This insatiable craving to belong and be loved blinkers her to his multitude of faults, and she gradually distances herself from the people who genuinely care about her.

Her initial reluctance to use drugs is met with scorn from Tomo, who ironically exclaims: “its not going to kill you”. However, she is soon ensnared in a drug-consumed environment from which she cannot escape.

Tomo’s inevitable rejection resonates her father’s departure six years earlier, and once again she believes herself to be unwanted and unworthy of love. However, her deep longing to be accepted has been replaced by a drug addiction which eventually kills her.

Brilliantly written, this hard-hitting play leaves nothing unsaid about the scourge of drugs, and it was superbly acted with strong characterisations.

Elaine McDonald is magnificent as Mags, a mother whose struggle to keep her family together is tainted by her refusal to admit to the problems demolishing it. And Peter Tyrell and Marie Kelly are great as the uncaring selfish boyfriend and ambitious sister respectively.

The supporting cast, Maureen Blake, Ida Doyle, Michelle Edwards, Bridget Larkin, Francis Larkin, Helen Smith, Sile Smyth and John Whelan were splendid in their respective roles.

The scene in which Louise meets the two sparring homeless women, Duckie and Mad Mary, is humorous, although it highlights another important social issue for the community of Dublin. Perhaps another opportunity for Tara Gray’s incisive writing skills.

The public meeting scene is an appropriate addition to the play as it illustrates the ravaging effect which drugs have on a locality. That members of the cast are strategically placed in the audience is a clever theatrical ploy on the part of the author, as it initiates discussion, allowing different opinions to be expressed. It is a scene which has great potential for debate if developed further.

The final scene returns to the children’s skipping game, and the words “but Louise isn’t here anymore” reverberate around the stage and reiterates the futility and destruction of drugs on the individual and the community as well.