by John B. Keane
directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
September 20- November 11, 2007
A raw and riveting drama, John B. Keane’s Sive tells the tale of a beautiful young schoolgirl forced into an arranged marriage with a rich and lecherous old man. This hard hitting depiction of a sexually charged world was a scandalous affair when it was first seen in 1959. Against the backdrop of 1950’s rural Ireland, the play is colorfully populated with traveling tinkers, bitter housewives and scheming matchmakers. From the same vivid and creative mind that penned The Field and The Matchmaker, Sive was Keane’s first play and it introduced the country to a powerful theatrical voice that influenced a generation of Ireland’s modern playwrights.
“PACED WITH IRRESISTIBLE MELODRAMATIC MOMENTUM, John B. Keane’s 1959 potboiler feels like the missing link between the hardscrabble folk dramas of O’Casey and Synge and the corruscating latter-day black comedies of McDonagh and McPherson. In director Ciaran O’Reilly’s crackling New York premiere production, this story unfolds with heartside grit and fablelike force.” —Time Out
“Theatre is all about creating a reality and making it not just immediate, but livable for us in the audience. SIVE INSPIRED SUCH REVERENCE ON THE NIGHT I SAW IT, TO THE POINT THAT GASPS WERE SOMETIMES AUDIBLE.” -NY Theatre.com
“A SOLID PRODUCTION.” -NY Times
“A HANDSOME PRODUCTION WITH AN ANIMATED CAST.” -Backstage
“THE IRISH REPERTORY STRIKES AGAIN. CONTINUING ITS WELCOME STREAK OF PROVIDING EFFECTIVE STAGING OF INTRIGUING WORKS. IT EFFECTIVELY DELINEATES THE ASSORTMENT OF CHARACTERS WELL-WRITTEN BY THE AUTHOR AND BROUGHT DRAMATICALLY TO LIFE BY A FIRST-RATE CAST.” –William Wolf
“A HEARTFELT AND BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED NEW PRODUCTION.” –Irish Echo