Effigy

Written and Directed by Treasa Nealon
Performed by Órla McSharry
Technically Designed by Caroline Norris

I wonder what would happen if I spontaneously combusted in the lobby of this hotel. Would he gather up the ashes of me in his big bold hands and lick them clean?

Armed with a bin bag full of childhood mementos, Katie returns to her hometown in Leitrim after the man who groomed her as a teenager passes away.
Confronted with her past, the present and a fiery future, she searches for a way to reckon with the hurt that has shaped her adult life.

Treasa Nealon is a playwright and theatre-maker based in the North-West of Ireland. She is an alumni of The Irish Theatre Institutes Virtual Six in the Attic programme. She co-founded The Rabbit’s Riot Theatre Company in 2016, where they have produced over 40 different productions and projects, including community public art installations and the North-West of Ireland’s first LGBT+ Theatre Festival. Her most recent work includes the short play ‘Grown, Growing, Gone’ performed as part of Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival (June 2025), 'We're Going Down and Growing Up' performed in Union Theatre, London (February 2025) and the commissioned short play ‘The First to Go’ which was performed by AboutFACE Theatre Company for their NEWvember New Writing Festival in the Civic (November 2024).

Her play ‘Homesick’ premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in September 2025.

Órla McSharry is a NorthWest of Ireland based Actress , voiceover artist and Drama facilitator with her own Drama School.
Órla has just finished working on the RTE TV series ‘Obituary’ playing the role of Cynthia, and has recently filmed the role of Jo in ‘Samantha Nobody’, which is currently in post-production. Some further credits include MS Nolan in ‘Ann’, Garda Burke for Virgin Media production ‘Missing Persons’.

April saw Órla in the maiden performance of ‘Effigy’ in the Glens Art Centre. Prior to that, Orla played Gwendoyln in ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ in the Hawk's Well Theatre with Sligo Drama Circle and Grainne in the Hawk's Well Production of ‘The Whacky Witch’. Other very recent theatre roles include Man and Pigeon in ‘Wonderhorse’ for The Cairde Festival, the outdoor production of ‘Riders to the Sea’ with Blue Raincoat Theatre Company and Mrs Pugh in the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company’s production of ‘Under Milk Wood’ in the Factory performance space.
Órla is also an actress in the annual Coolera Dramatic society Hawk's Well pantomime.

Caroline Norris has been a lighting designer for over a decade, working both freelance for other directors and companies, as well as the main Lighting Designer and Production Manager for The Rabbit’s Riot Theatre Company. Caroline has worked all over Ireland; recent plays include “Hear Me Speak!’ (Hawks Well, 2023) ‘A Rose By Any Other Name’ (Smock Alley Theatre, 2024), ‘An Chos Eile’ (axis: Ballymun, 2024) and ‘Effigy’ (The Glens Art Centre, 2025), which was written by Rabbits Riot own playwright Treasa Nealon.

Audience Reactions:

'The collaboration between a very clever author and an outstanding actor mark this piece of theatre out as worthy of the term classic.'

'A very gripping play, humorous, poignant and shocking at times. It held my attention from beginning to end. Powerfully played by actor Órla McSharry.'

'The piece deserves wide exposure and has a capacity to entertain and challenge in equal measure. No small achievement. It is hard to imagine it could have worked as well as it does were it not for the perfect synergy of Orla McSharry and Treasa Nealon in collaboration. Every detail is important in this short piece. One moment you find yourself believing a movement or a prop move is merely incidental or just stage functional only to realise that what you have been watching and experiencing are tiny motifs to bring the drama to an outstanding final crescendo. If you get the chance, go and see this work. You will be challenged but only after you have been entertained.'