{"id":868,"date":"2023-11-28T18:53:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T18:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/?page_id=868"},"modified":"2023-12-12T17:16:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T17:16:07","slug":"becoming-molly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/becoming-molly\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Molly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Becoming Molly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 A Short Story by Elaine Desmond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in Cork and based on actual theatre visit, Becoming Molly <\/em>is about openness to change.  It was awarded second prize at the Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn International Short Story award as part of the Wexford Literary Festival in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Excerpt from Becoming Molly<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you find your seat in the middle of the small, dated theatre, music hall tunes – straight out of The Good Ol\u2019 Days – <\/em>are playing.  On stage, a 10-foot Virgin Mary cut-out, clothed in a long blue and white gown, surveys the scene.  Her blank, featureless face is lit from behind to give it an eerie glow and her arms are outspread in a heartless compassion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are gradually taking their places, but you suspect the show will not be a sell-out.  Joyce\u2019s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man <\/em>is not to everyone\u2019s taste and the reviews haven\u2019t been great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man\u2019s voice comes from behind you.  It\u2019s theatrical – affected and well-spoken. There\u2019s also something faltering about it.  Given the number of empty seats, you sense that it\u2019s directed at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I suspect Joyce\u2019d turn in his grave if he saw that monstrosity.\u2019 You twist around, glad that someone has decided to address the elephant in the room – only to realise that an even larger one looms behind you.  Because the words come from a male perhaps in his mid-fifties \u2013 but a male in full make-up and a figure-hugging red dress, complete with a bobbed brunette wig and sunglasses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt from Becoming Molly As you find your seat in the middle of the small, dated theatre, music hall tunes – straight out of The Good Ol\u2019 Days – are playing.  On stage, a 10-foot Virgin Mary cut-out, clothed in a long blue and white gown, surveys the scene.  Her blank, featureless face is lit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-868","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1489,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}