Long gone are the days when appearing in a play in the Gaiety rather than the Abbey or Gate was seen as “slumming it”. Or that's how Ronan Smith, who plays a priest in Groundwork’s latest production of John B. Keane’s Moll, which opens on March 9th and runs till April 9, sees it anyhow.

“Look at someone like Barry McGovern who is probably best know for his role in Beckett’s I’ll Go On, which has played in prestigious venues like the Lincoln Centre in New York” he says. “In fact Barry loves the chance to appear in a play like this which has an entirely different response from audiences than, say, a play like Beckett’s would. We all do. There’s a hell of a buzz involved when you know you’re playing to capacity crowds who tune into work on as intrinsic a level as Irish audiences do to John B. Keane. And Moll is one of his most popular works.”

Ronan Smith should know. He’s also Executive Producer with Groundwork and appeared in the last run of Moll at the Gaiety in 1991, which broke all attendance records for a straight play. And yet there are those critics who claim that John B’s work is too linear, that, in plays like Moll he doesn’t really explore the relationships between priests, or their seminal role in the community.

“Moll is pure entertainment and this is not a revisionist post-Father Brendan Smyth look at such relationships. In fact Fintan O’ Toole would be hard-pressed to do his cultural analysis job on this,” says Ronan. “ But I see nothing wrong with plays being pure entertainment. Yet, even so, as in John B’s plays such as Big Maggie and The Field there is an element of universality that marks them out as great theatre, great art on any level. I love appearing in his plays, for all those reasons. And our run of successes with his plays proves that this is precisely what the public wants.”

Being market-driven is nothingto be ashamed of “once you get the balance right, Smith believes. “We are market-driven because we’ve taken on board a theatre and need to keep it filled to keep it in operation. And so far, with plays like Moll and popular musicals and so on, we do seem to be getting things right. And there obviously is a place for plays like this, and musicals such as Guys and Dolls, which will be our big show next summer.

Asked if Marlon Brando, who will be in Ireland at the time, has been asked to recreate his movie role of Sky Masterson, Ronan laughs. “He’d have to lose a bit of weight first, but what a photo scoop that would make!" he says. "Even Brando arriving at the opening? Do you think that can be arranged?”

Over to you Michael D.

Recommended: Returning to the Gate from March 7th is Alan Stanford’s superb production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Particularly recommended to those who read classic books and form their own images of key characters, scenes and settings and assume that no director could do such a vision justice. Stanford does, as do all the actors involved, who deliver uniformly impeccable performances. Sublime theatre.