| Following recent announcements that Druid's busy programme in 2006 will include a production of The Walworth Face (a new play by Enda Walsh) in March-April and a tour to the US with DruidSynge in June-July, Druid completes the line up for the first half of 2006 with news that a major new production of The Year of the Hiker by John B Keane will play Galway and Dublin's Gaiety Theatre in May and June. The production is the final one in Druid's celebrated Keane Trilogy (Sive 2003, Sharon's Grave 2004) and will have the same creative team of Garry Hynes, Francis O'Connor, David Bolger, Davy Cunningham and Kathy Strachan. Casting will be announced next month. The production opens at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway on 4th May and the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on 22nd May for a limited run. Felicity O Brien joins the Druid team Druid is pleased to announce that Felicity O Brien has been appointed to the newly created role of Producer with the company.
A native of Kiltimagh, Co Mayo and a graduate of DCU, Felicity has worked for many years with Dublin Theatre Festival where her roles as Programme Co-Ordinator and Special Projects Manager included responsibility for the Festival's in-house productions. Felicity's previous positions include Line Producer with St Patrick's Festival and Production Stage Manager with Riverdance. She has also worked in a freelance capacity with Galway Arts Festival (where she started her career), Macnas, MCD and the Special Olympics. DRUID JAN – JULY 2006 The Walworth Farce by Enda Walsh
Druid’s first Production of 2006 will be a world premier of a new play by Enda Walsh.The Walworth Farce is a new play by Enda Walsh, one of the country's finest young playwrights, commissioned by Druid under its New Writing programme. Directed by Mikel Murfi, designed by Sabine Dargent with lighting by Paul Keogan and featuring Syan Blake, Denis Conway, Garrett Lombard and Aaron Monaghan, the production will tour to Cork and Dublin in April after its world premiere in Galway in March. Town Hall Theatre, Galway 20th - 25th March 2006
Everyman Theatre, Cork 28th March - 1st April 2006
The Helix, Dublin 4th - 15th April 2006 The Year of the Hiker by John B Keane
Directed by Garry Hynes & Designed by Francis O'Connor and featuring a stellar Irish cast. Following the critically acclaimed productions of Sive & Sharon's Grave, Druid now concludes the Keane Trilogy upon which it embarked in 2003. Town Hall Theatre, Galway 4th - 20th May 2006
Gaiety Theatre, Dublin 22nd May - 17th June 2006 INTERNATIONAL TOURING
Druid will present its critically-acclaimed DruidSynge, John Millington Synge’s entire theatrical canon, at the prestigious Lincoln Center Festival in New York in July 2006. DruidSynge will also be the opening production of the major new facility at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis (where Joe Dowling is Artistic Director) in June ‘06. DruidSynge premiered at Galway Arts Festival in July 2005 and played to capacity audiences in Dublin and Edinburgh (where it was described by the New Statesman as ‘one of the greatest moments in the history of the Edinburgh International Festival’). DruidSynge concluded its 2005 run on Inis Meáin, Synge’s artistic and spiritual home and featured two, full-day performances of the Synge Cycle at Dūn Conchubhair Iron Age fort. Lincoln Center Festival Director Nigel described DruidSynge as ‘one of THE highlights of the 2006 Festival and a most eagerly anticipated event’. DruidSynge attracted critical acclaim from a wide range of media on both sides of the Atlantic who described it as ‘breathtaking’ (New York Times); ‘spectacular’ (Variety Magazine); ‘astounding’ (The Observer); ‘an epic triumph’ (Irish Independent); ‘a colossal achievement’ (Scotsman); ‘superb’, & ‘awe at the achievement of this Druid company’ (Guardian), ‘unforgettable’ (Irish Examiner) & ‘one of the most important events in the history of Irish theatre’(The Irish Times). Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
27th June - 1st July 2006 DruidSynge at the Lincoln Center Festival, New York
10th - 23rd July 2006 | 
