With our 20th anniversary production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane currently winning critical and audience acclaim on its coast to coast US tour, we have announced plans today for two provocative productions for 2017: Crestfall by Mark O’Rowe and King of the Castle by Eugene McCabe.
The shows examine oppression and emotional impoverishment, thematic explorations that began with our international tour of The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh and acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, both of which will also run in 2017.
“These are provocative plays and we’re living in provocative times” says Artistic Director Garry Hynes. “Crestfall is an unforgiving portrait of three women who are fuelled by love but driven to hate. It’s beautiful but it pulls no punches. King of the Castle is very much a play of its time steeped in a world of patriarchy and religion that invades the personal and the intimate. They present a challenge and a necessary look at where we are and where we’ve come from and have both a national and a global resonance.”
The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh
The Gaiety Theatre | 28th March – 15th April
Pittsburgh | Michigan | Hong Kong
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Abbey Theatre | 22nd April – 20th May
Spoleto Festival, USA | 25th May – 10th June
Crestfall by Mark O’Rowe
Directed by Annabelle Comyn
The Mick Lally Theatre (Galway International Arts Festival) | 14th – 29th July
Abbey Theatre (Peacock) | 1st – 12th August
Tickets on sale soon
King of the Castle by Eugene McCabe
Directed by Garry Hynes
Town Hall Theatre, Galway
Details to be announced
Following glowing reviews at BAM New York, The Beauty Queen of Leenane is about to open at the August Wilson Centre in Pittsburgh. It continues to Ann Arbor, Michigan and Hong Kong International Arts Festival and then returns to The Gaiety Theatre from 28th March to15th April. The explosive revival of Martin McDonagh’s award-winning pitch-black comedy was seen by a breathtaking 39,000 in Ireland and LA in 2016 with an anticipated 50,000 for its 2017 dates. Garry Hynes directs Druid Ensemble members Aaron Monaghan, Marie Mullen, Marty Rea and Aisling O’Sullivan in this much-lauded 20th anniversary production.
In April, Dublin audiences will finally have the opportunity to catch our acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett when it runs at The Abbey Theatre from 22nd April to 20th May. The 2016 production sold out at The Mick Lally Theatre in record time and there wasn’t a ticket to be had for the subsequent Unusual Rural Tour which played in Glencree, Inis Méain and the Céide Fields. Waiting for Godot will be directed by Garry Hynes featuring members of the Druid Ensemble, Garrett Lombard, Aaron Monaghan, Rory Nolan and Marty Rea. The production will also play at Spoleto Festival USA in June 2017.
Crestfall, Mark O’Rowe’s poetic drama about three women in a town on the edge of catastrophe, will be presented by Druid at the 2017 Galway International Arts Festival. Directed by Annabelle Comyn (Helen and I, 2016), the production will premiere at the Mick Lally theatre in Galway and will transfer to the Peacock at The Abbey in August.
In September, we take on Eugene McCabe’s epic play, King of the Castle, directed by Garry Hynes. Seán McGinley marks a welcome return to Druid, playing the lead role of Scober McAdam. Scober’s greed to succeed is respected by the men he hires, but as he soon realises, his failures in the bedroom are mocked just as widely, leading to some disturbing decisions.
Alongside our main programme of activities, we will continue its Druid Debut series of new play readings, FUEL artist residencies, expansion of the Druid Ensemble and a new programme of events at The Mick Lally Theatre, Galway.