Meet Rita, forthright, funny and bloody furious. It’s 2010 and fifty-something barmaid Rita McGrinder is opening the doors to the same old regulars in a back-of-beyond pub in rural Monaghan.
As she works, she delivers a caustic recollection of a disappointed life, but one lived in extraordinary times. Hers is a story that, despite all its rural mundanity, encompasses violence, sex, scientific discovery, illiterate nuns, hypocrisy, terrorism, sock laundry, Daniel O’Donnell, showbands, dying priests, Jedward, and strap-ons.
It has been a whirlwind of change and, at the heart of the storm, stands Rita McGrinder. She’s seen it all, hell, she’s lived it all. Rita McGrinder is Still Here is a dark, funny and disturbing tale of life lived in an age of tumult. One woman’s story that runs from tragedy to comedy to a kind of redemption. Rita is pitilessly acerbic, brutally funny, and maybe she feels just a wee bit homicidal. And if she does, well maybe she has good cause.
Rita McGrinder is Still Here is written by Martin McNamara, directed by Su Gilroy and stars Mary O’Sullivan.