DIRECTOR Jan Kirk has settled on her York Settlement Community Players cast for Marina Carr's Southern Irish play The Mai.

"I had 28 people to audition, so plenty of difficult choices, but I do have a very strong cast as a result," says Jan, whose production will be staged at Upstage Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York, from March 16 to 19 next year. Rehearsals will start on January 5, taking place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

"In essence, Marina's play explores the hopes and disappointments of four generations of women within one Irish family," says Jan. "It presents the memories of Millie, The Mai's daughter, with the adult Millie narrating the drama being performed on stage, but participating in the action as a teenager.

"The storyline reconstructs the summer of 1979, when The Mai's estranged husband returns after a five-year absence, and the summer of 1980, when the marriage has disintegrated again. The Mai is the story of the quest for love and depicts the loss of love, romantic and familial."

Jan's cast will feature Beryl Nairn as The Mai; Beth Sharrock as Millie, aged 16 and 30; Elizabeth Elsworth as the 100-year-old Grandma Fraochlan and Damian Fynes as Robert, The Mai's husband. Jessica Murray will play The Mai's sister, Beck, aged 37; Helen Sant, her sister Connie, 38; Sophie Buckley, her aunt, 75; and Vivienne Clare, another aunt, 61.

Director and cast will be doing research and development work between now and January. Among those in the production team will be designers Mike Rogers and Jan Kirk, in her second role; stage manager Dave Moores; the lighting and sound team Graham Sanderson and Edward Dick; costume duo Helen Taylor and Maggie Smales; composer Ollie Mills; photographer Michael J.Oakes and Irish accent coach Brendan Tannam.

Tickets will go on sale next January.