Everybody has those chance encounters with strangers in completely public places—bank queues, cafes, bus-stops, and so on.

It may be just a glance, a quick nod or glance, and that’s it. However, sometimes people take these moments further.

William and Kathleen, the lead characters of ‘Melody’, are two completely different people who meet on a park bench during a lunchtime classical music recital in a park.

From the Tall Tales Theatre Company, ‘Melody’ revolves around a relationship that blossoms from one such encounter, starting in the least-expected of ‘pick-up’ locations; a park bench during a lunchtime classical music recital.

The writer of ‘Melody’, and also the Artistic Director of Tall Tales, Deirdre Kinahan, admits that the two characters in the production, Kathleen and William, are very different to each other.

“They are a middle aged couple. He is a bumbling civil servant from Navan Town, while she is quite a prim, Dublin woman living in the Terenure-end of Templeogue, but for both of them it is a late chance at love,” explains Deirdre, before throwing one heck of a curveball: “However, it turns out that she is a receptionist at a massage parlour.”

For a 40-minute play, Kinahan seems to have weaved a multi-faceted script, which seems even more surprising given the origins of the play. “Five years ago, there was a twenty-four theatre project at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin, where we met at midnight. We all picked themes and actors names out of hat, and basically had six hours to write a ten-minute play to be performed that night!”

After that impromptu debut, it was perhaps only a matter of time before Deirdre fine-tuned everything and developed a more elaborate version of ‘Melody’.

“I got that opportunity in 2005. Dublin City Council were launching their new Arts Office, and approached us (Tall Tales) for something that could be staged for that. So we had this forty-five minute lunchtime comedy that really could work.”

Deirdre points out that there is another key element that has aided the play’s success from day one. “The real joy of it is that you can put it any corner really,” she enthuses, acknowledging that a minimalist set, and two actors can make it a little less of a logistical nightmare also.

In the past three years, ‘Melody’ has roamed around the country, playing in various settings, with both lunchtime and night performances.

The play appears to exude a heart-warming, if quirky, tone, which is something that Deirdre strives for. “Yes, that’s the kind of story I really enjoy; that idea of bringing people together who wouldn’t normally be involved with each other, or even move in the same circles, and seeing what happens when their worlds collide.”