Irish Repertory Theatre

Irish Drama.
New York Style.

2019-2020 Season

Meet the Makers

Welcome to Meet the Makers – a digital series of conversations with scholars and Irish Rep artists offering a behind-the-scenes look at Irish history, theatre, and the creative process. 

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All previous episodes can be found below and by using the hashtag #IrishRepOnline. You can follow along with the following social media accounts:

Twitter: @IrishRep
Instagram: @Irish_Rep
Facebook: Facebook.com/IrishRep
YouTube: youtube.com/IrishRep

The Smuggler

A MONOLOGUE IN VERSE

in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre

By Ronán Noone
Directed by Nicola Murphy

Starring Michael Mellamphy

“Highly theatrical and totally absorbing, The Smuggler is both an exorcism and a riveting sliver of humanity that ranks among the best of the year.” – TheaterMania

PLEASE NOTE: THE SMUGGLER HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FALL 2020 AS OF 3/13/20.  FULL PERFORMANCE UPDATES CAN BE FOUND AT IRISHREP.ORG/COVID19

Tim Finnegan is an Irish immigrant living the American dream – and he’s here to tell you all about it.

Out of work, ashamed and angry, with his marriage on the rocks, Tim sinks into the seedy underbelly of his small town. With the help of a few friends, he soon sees opportunities to climb the ladder – so long as he’s willing to bend the rules.

Written entirely in rhymed verse, this strikingly original work by Ronán Noone won the best playwright award at Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival in 2019.

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Lady G

PLAYS AND WHISPERINGS OF LADY GREGORY

in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre

By Lady Augusta Gregory
With additional material by Ciarán O’Reilly
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly

With Úna Clancy, Terry Donnelly, John Keating, and James Russell

PLEASE NOTE: ALL REMAINING PERFORMANCES OF INCANTATA HAVE BEEN CANCELLED AS OF 3/13/20.  FULL PERFORMANCE UPDATES CAN BE FOUND AT IRISHREP.ORG/COVID19

NOW THROUGH MARCH 29, 2020

Lady Augusta Isabella Gregory was the grand dame of Irish Theatre. Today, she is remembered as co-founder of The Abbey Theatre in Dublin and for turning her Galway home, Coole Park, into the mecca of the Irish Literary Revival. Here she nurtured many of the great writers of the Irish Renaissance including WB Yeats, Sean O’Casey, and JM Synge.  She was also the author of over forty plays and numerous translations and books of Irish folklore.

Lady G – an intimate Irish Rep production, drawn from Lady Gregory’s personal writings and rarely seen plays explores the remarkable life of a literary legend. Beneath the public persona of a dour Victorian widow lies a passionate heart and a wry sense of humor. Her plays “Workhouse Ward” and “McDonough’s Wife“ showcase her playful yet powerful vision of Ireland and her people.

Irish Repertory Theatre is excited to explore the work and life of Lady Gregory through this original production by Ciarán O’Reilly. Two of Lady Gregory’s original works will be staged as part of this evening: “Workhouse Ward” premiered at The Abbey Theatre in 1908, and “McDonough’s Wife” premiered as “MacDaragh’s Wife“ at The Abbey Theatre in 1912; this is its U.S. Premiere.

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“…Lady G is accessible, informative, and energetically performed by a quartet of actors who clearly share [Ciarán] O’Reilly’s zeal in bringing the life and work of this important figure to a new generation.”   –  TheaterMania

Lady G is “all charm and tongue-in-cheek humor thanks to a spirited cast and an interesting subject”   –  Talkin’ Broadway

“a charming and touching tribute” – Theaterscene.net

“an exquisite production” – One Magazine

“Lady G is a fascinating study of the unforgettable Lady Gregory…[it] may well be the best antidote for those mid-winter blues.” – CurtainUp

Incantata

Irish Repertory Theatre presents
A Galway International Arts Festival
And Jen Coppinger Production

U.S. Premiere
on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage

By Paul Muldoon
Directed by Sam Yates

Starring Stanley Townsend

In Memory of Mary Farl Powers

PLEASE NOTE: ALL REMAINING PERFORMANCES OF INCANTATA HAVE BEEN CANCELLED AS OF 3/13/20.  FULL PERFORMANCE UPDATES CAN BE FOUND AT IRISHREP.ORG/COVID19

February 18 – March 15, 2020

Incantata is a passionate celebration of the complexities of a relationship between two artists – a moving elegy to art, life, love, and loss by Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon, interpreted for the stage by director Sam Yates and Stanley Townsend, one of Ireland’s leading actors.

Written upon the death of his former partner, Mary Farl Powers – an acclaimed printmaker who died of cancer at just 43 years old – Muldoon’s virtuosic poem explores his grief, Powers’ art, and their love through his characteristic sharp humor and ranging associative style – moving from painful lamentation to powerful reaffirmation of life and love.

Award-winning director Sam Yates (The Starry Messenger on London’s West End) teamed up with Townsend and a group of renowned stage artists to bring this masterwork to the stage – transforming the solitary poem into a multisensory experience with a haunting soundtrack by composer Teho Teardo (Ballyturk, Arlington, Grief is the Thing with Feathers); a compelling set by Rosanna Vize; evocative lighting by the multi-award winning designer Paul Keogan; cutting-edge video design by Jack Phelan; and sound design by Sinéad Diskin.

Irish Repertory Theatre is proud to present the US premiere of Incantata, which premiered to wide acclaim at the 2018 Galway International Arts Festival and was most recently staged at Dublin’s famed Gate Theatre.

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Critic’s Pick! “Incantata is unique and beautiful… its life onstage has a peculiar charm, a touch of magic.” – The New York Times

“One of the most outstanding elegies of the 20th century” – The Guardian

✭✭✭✭ “a remarkable piece of theatre… a brilliantly unstable experience” – The Irish Examiner

“a monumental collaboration… as intense as it is masterful” – The Sunday Independent

“[Paul Muldoon is] one of the great poets of the past hundred years, who can be everything in his poems – word-playful, lyrical, hilarious, melancholy. And angry. Only Yeats before him could write with such measured fury.” – The New York Times

✭✭✭✭ “[Muldoon] weaves his art like black magic” – The Irish Times

“[an] emotionally gripping performance… a vivid onstage testament to art, lives, love and loss.” – Talkin’ Broadway

“a tour-de-force, a challenging work of language and love attempting to bridge the divide between life and death” – ONE Magazine

Galway International Arts Festival, Jen Coppinger, and Irish Repertory Theatre are very grateful to Culture Ireland for  its support of the US premiere of Incantata.

 

The Scourge

Irish Repertory Theatre,
in association with Wexford Arts Centre
Presents the U.S. Premiere

in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre

By Michelle Dooley Mahon
Directed by Ben Barnes

Starring Michelle Dooley Mahon

January 22  – February 2, 2020

“Compelling Narrative… Mahon’s lyrical monologue is delivered in a rapid-fire style… deftly directed by Ben Barnes…this astutely observed piece is well worth a look especially if hope is what’s needed” – Sunday Times

“Death by a thousand cuts” – that’s how Michelle Dooley Mahon describes Alzheimer’s disease after witnessing it strike down her mother Siobhán. As Mahon relives that time, her humorous and moving memories and rapier-like observations introduce personalities, history, and a nostalgic archive of an ordinary Irish small-town family forced to become extraordinary in their attempt to cope.

The Scourge takes audiences on a journey like no other, a beautiful dedication of a daughter giving voice to a mother sadly silenced before her time.

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This is the U.S. premiere of Michelle Dooley Mahon’s The Scourge, adapted from Mahon’s critically-acclaimed autobiographical novel Scourged and directed by Ben Barnes, former Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre. Wexford Arts Centre presented the world premiere of The Scourge in April 2018 in the Wexford Opera Fringe Festival followed by a national tour in 2019 as part of the First Fortnight European Mental Health Art and Cultural Festival.  The Scourge is an official selection of the 2020 Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival.

The Scourge is produced in association with Wexford Arts Centre as part of Origin’s 1st Irish New York’s festival of Irish Theatre. For Festival Info visit www.origintheatre.org

“beautifully written and deeply personal… The 85-minute piece is filled with rich imagery and luscious turns of Irish phrase” – Theatermania

“A deeply moving testament to the power of emotional resilience, The Scourge is a captivating tribute to the human spirit, and Mahon is an international treasure.” – Talkin’ Broadway

“A big plus of this 85-minute work at the Irish Repertory Theater is the balance of light and dark. Another key asset is Mahon’s down-to-earth likability. The story is the star, and Mahon has a gift for painting evocative pictures with words” – Theater News Online

‘Raw, witty and poetic, Michelle Dooley Mahon’s ‘The Scourge’ had a huge impact.” – Wexford People/Independent.ie
“Scourged is that most rare and wonderful creature, a book that is both entertaining and honest – like David Sedaris or Joan Didion before her, Dooley Mahon delves deep into the seam of the everyday, mining the ores of tragedy and comedy, shining a single headlamp as she digs, until the unsuspecting reader, laughed and cried out, is forced to go for a lie down” – Eoin Colfer (Author, New York Times Best Selling Artemis Fowl Series)

Sponsors:

 

London Assurance

on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage

by Dion Boucicault
directed by Charlotte Moore

With Craig Wesley Divino, Meg Hennessy, Ian Holcomb, Elliot Joseph, Brian Keane, Colin McPhillamy, Rachel Pickup, Caroline Strang, Evan Zes, and Robert Zukerman

Extended through Feb 9, 2020!

“a perfect production of one of the funniest plays ever written…London Assurance is the tonic you’ve been looking for” – Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal

In this high-spirited farce, the vain and lustful Sir Harcourt Courtly travels to Oak Hall to meet his bride-to-be, the charming young Grace Harkaway, whose hand comes with £15,000 a year.  But when the beautiful and vibrant Lady Gay Spanker joins the party, Sir Harcourt becomes too enamored with her to notice that Grace is falling in love with his young son Charles, who has arrived in disguise, pursued by his creditors! A parade of eccentric characters and merry mishaps ensue in this classic comedy of manners.

This beloved play catapulted the then 20-year-old Dion Boucicault to fame when it premiered at London’s Covent Garden in March of 1841. It was the beginning of a long and storied career for the young Irish actor/playwright, who is considered one of the most successful and influential theatrical figures of the 19th Century.

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“a perfect production of one of the funniest plays ever written…the 10-person cast is beyond praise…London Assurance is the tonic you’ve been looking for”  –  Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal

“Charlotte Moore directs a spirited ten-person cast of exquisite comic skills” – Ken Marks, The New Yorker

This “deft and cheerful” revival “showcases some delicious characters”  –  Alexis Soloski, The New York Times

McPhillamy’s “expressive delivery leaves no funny line unpunched” in this “handsome revival” – Time Out New York

“a gorgeously designed production… [McPhillamy] keeps us in stitches… Irish Rep audiences should be delighted” – Theatermania

“an inspired choice… go immediately and be transported” – One Magazine, Lisa Del Rossi

“a holiday treat the whole family can enjoy” – Talkin’ Broadway

“this visit to the past is the perfect holiday present” – Theatre News Online

“the perfect production… marvelous” – Carole Di Tosti, New York Skyline

“charming and fun” – New York Theatre Guide

“not a bad place to spend a chilly evening” – Elysa Gardner, New York Stage Review

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