Longford play 'Cardboard Coffin' opens our eyes to the real life issues that are hurting people

‘Cardboard Coffin’, written by Valerie Masters and performed by Jimmy Connell (aka Jimmy Jests), came in for much acclaim after it played to full houses for three consecutive nights at Ballymahon’s Bog Lane Theatre.

Jimmy Connell reflected, “Well, it’s not often I’m lost for words but the past three nights have left me speechless. To the three full houses who shared my experience I am so thankful. The respect and appreciation you gave the play, ‘Cardboard Coffin’, was astonishing.”
Jimmy played the role of Johnny and he outlined that ‘Johnny was loved, hated, pitied, laughed at, admired and prayed for’.

Jimmy extended thanks to his family. “To Cathy, Caoimhe, Patrick & Cian thanks for your love and patience over the past few months as I went missing trying to become Johnny. I’m back

Jimmy continued, “To Peter Costello you are a great one, you always go above and beyond, thanks! To Pat Lloyd and the Bog Lane committee, thank you for giving me unlimited access to your wonderful theatre.

“To the one and only Pauline Flood who introduced me to this opportunity and is always so supportive of what I do, my sincere gratitude.
“To Lorraine & Matthew Masters, Gina Gough & Patrick for all the work ye did behind the scenes it made my life much easier, thanks.
“To Mary Nally for your kind hospitality and support and for welcoming my family into your home.
“To the amazing Valerie Masters who gave this masterpiece to the world we will be forever grateful. You have a natural talent as a playwright so please write more, the world needs to see inside your brilliant mind.”

Jimmy thanked his character ‘Johnny’ “for opening our eyes to the real life issues that are hurting people every single day. These need to be talked about more, so if ‘Cardboard Coffin’ has helped in some small way to achieve this then ‘Johnny’s’ life was worthwhile. Will Johnny return? I think he needs to rest first.”

Valerie Masters, who wrote ‘Cardboard Coffin’ and Johnny’s story, remarked, “It's hard to walk away from someone who embeds themselves within you, hard to tell them you're leaving them. I've written Johnny's story, I've climbed into his skin, I've tried to understand that men suffer quietly, and rarely expose themselves or bare their souls.

But Johnny did, he led the way for those men who can’t talk, the men who suffer silently, the men who fall apart and lose everything.”

Valerie continued, “I've held his hand and promised him I'd never leave him and I watched him fade away so many times that sometimes I wondered if I had promised him a lie. But then Jimmy Connell arrived and reached out a hand to Johnny and promised him the same promise I gave him. He delivered and Johnny was able to tell his story.”

Valerie concluded, “After three electrifying nights, the silence has fallen upon the theatre that Johnny made his bed in. The applause has faded away, and when we turned off the lights, turned the key and walked away we felt the weight of knowing we left Johnny to forever lie there, lost in the pain he shared just so others could believe that there is another way to survive the hurt that builds up inside.
“And there is another way to survive, if you would just reach out and talk.”