Longford's Backstage Theatre to host 'Tom Foolery at the Folly'

The Edgeworthstown drama group presents the story behind the establishment of Charlton’s Endowment Charitable Trust Fund.

Written by Pauline Flood it's a tale with an historic setting. It depicts a time in Moatfarrell, Longford around 1776, where a 75 year old man intended to marry and father a child to inherit his millions. The aforesaid man, millionaire Thomas Charlton Sr, had two jealous sisters who each had a son and these two hags devised a plan to rob their brother of his manhood, to prevent him fathering an heir.

“It started out as a dark sad drama set in the late 1700’s but director Vanessa Galligan, threw in some dramatic values, adding a few light pieces of entertainment where possible.

She didn’t want the whole drama to be dismal. So she added a lift where possible,” Pauline said of the show's development,

“It's still portrays the initial story of how Charlton’s charitable endowment fund came into being. The fund may have dried up around the onset of the millennium.”

Pauline used her background as a Genealogist to research the story and the family lineage and put together a drama to portray the incidents that transformed history. Though not fully recorded or researched with half the storyline was lost along the way Pauline uses it as a starting point for her story.

“This story is not 100% true, but uses poetic licence for entertainment value,” Pauline tells, “It has been fabricated to match in with the storyline. It contains all the elements of entertainment, it’s funny, dark, squeamish, and along with some singing interludes it brings the whole scenario alive. It is suitable for anyone over the age of 12..”

Mostrim Players was founded in 2013 as a result of the hugely successful American Wake production for the Gathering 2013.

Initially Tom Foolery at the Folly was written for radio and funded by the BAI. It was sponsored by Shannonside/Northernsound radio and it was broadcast on a few occasions: “It was quite a task to transform from Radio to the stage, so extra scenes had to be written to lengthen it.

We would like to thank all our sponsors in particular, Creative Longford, Longford Co Council and Shannonside Northern Sound radio,” Pauline said.

To find out more about this intriguing tale, Tom Foolery at the Folly will be presented to the public at Backstage Theatre on May, 18, 19 and 20.