Reunion, Mark O'Rowe's gripping family drama, gets London premiere
The 2024 play, O'Rowe's first in six years, centres on a family gathering on an island off the west coast of Ireland.
The arrival of an unexpected visitor brings tension to the surface in the production by the Galway International Arts Festival and Landmark Productions.
It will get its London premiere at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn in September, with the majority of the original cast making the trip across the water too.
Reprising their roles are Ian-Lloyd Anderson, as Aonghus, Venetia Bowe, as Janice, Stephen Brennan as Felix, Leonard Buckley as Ciaran, Simone Collins as Holly, Desmond Eastwood as Stuart, and Catherine Walker as Gina.
They will be joined by Peter Corboy as Maurice and Kate Gilmore as Marilyn, with further casting due to be announced.
Venetia Bowe, Ian-Lloyd Anderson, Desmond Eastwood, Catherine Walker, Leonard Buckley, Stephen Brennan and Simone Collins star in Reunion by Mark O'Rowe
'I am absolutely delighted that Reunion will be seen by its first London audiences this September,' O'Rowe said this week.
'The Kiln is such a beautiful, intimate space, and I can't wait to see how the show plays there before we return to the joyful expanse of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, and hopefully beyond.'
Culture Ireland will support the performances at Kiln Theatre.
Following its time in London the play will run at the Gaiety Theatre from October 21 to November 2.
Reunion runs at the Kiln Theatre from September 11 to October 11.
See More: Dublin, Galway, Kiln Theatre, London, Mark O'Rowe, Reunion
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Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
Some might say the big Oasis payday is here: Gallagher brothers and Dublin city set for a bonanza
'Was it worth the £40,000 you paid for a ticket?' Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher asked the Cardiff crowd on the opening night of the band's reunion tour, which arrives at Dublin's Croke Park this weekend. His reference to the dynamic-pricing controversy that surrounded the sale of tickets for the tour – dubbed a 'cheeky quip' by the Daily Mail – was, of course, slightly exaggerated. But both the outlay for fans and the estimated payday for the Gallagher brothers from the Live '25 tour are not exactly modest. Some Might Say it is definitely, not maybe, enough to shell out for a Champagne Supernova or two. Let's start with the consumer spending side. Anyone lucky enough to get a standing ticket at face value for the Croke Park gigs on August 16th or August 17th paid €176.75, including the Ticketmaster service charge. Prices for seats without obstructed views were higher again still. READ MORE But, as almost everyone in the virtual queue for tickets soon found out, prices went up at Supersonic speed. Within an hour of the start of the general sale, as high demand triggered system crashes and error messages, the only tickets left on sale cost more than €400. Even the example of a fan who escaped the ravages of dynamic pricing and spent €176.75 for a single standing ticket at the 82,000-capacity Croke Park is on track to have a much bigger total outlay on the concert. Let's assume they have aged out of their original 1990s T-shirts – or ditched them in the years when Liam and Noel Gallagher seemed unwilling to ever share a stage again – and are now in sudden need of some Oasis-branded gig attire. A trip to the band's official merchandise pop-up store on St Stephen's Green could set them back €40 for a T-shirt and €30 for a bucket hat. How about pre-gig refreshments? Some Dublin hotels and restaurants have gone out of their way to say Hello to Oasis fans and make sure this opportunity to rake in some extra dough doesn't Slide Away. The adjacent Croke Park Hotel, owned by the Doyle Collection, is offering an all-you-can-eat (in 90 minutes) pre-concert barbecue for €50 per person. [ I'm going to Oasis both nights, tissues at the ready Opens in new window ] Think bingeing on burgers would only lead to mid-concert regret? Another Dublin hospitality outlet overtly targeting Oasis fans is Molloy's Pub on Talbot Street, which makes a virtue of the fact it has 'no food, just top pints and fast service' – plus a DJ playing some Oasis deep cuts 20 minutes' walk from Croke Park. Tot up the cost of food and drink, transport and maybe some merch and it's not hard to see why even those Oasis fans who managed to swerve the most expensive tickets could still end up spending more than €300, all in. And what about fans who need somewhere to stay overnight? Unless they have a friend with a spare sofa, they could be paying hundreds of euro more. Taylor Swift performs on stage during The Eras Tour at the Aviva Stadium last summer in Dublin, Ireland. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management As soon as the Dublin dates were announced, prices for hotels in the city surged, with those looking to stay in three- and four-star accommodation asked to pay more than €400 for a room in many instances. A scan of available hotel properties on shows some last-minute Saturday and Sunday night availability in the city for less than this price, but it is limited. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission , which last year opened an investigation into Ticketmaster's handling of the Oasis ticket sale , has published a list of tips on how to keep hotel costs down headlined 'Hotel price spikes – should you just Roll with It?' Its advice for finding 'relative value' when gigs are scheduled in Dublin includes considering a hotel outside the city centre in locations such as Tallaght, Swords, Citywest, Lucan or Clondalkin – options that, as it notes, involve higher transport costs and extra transit time. Calculating the economic benefits of hosting a gig or another major event is often more speculation than science. The key factor, however, is always the number of visitors who have travelled specially for the event. [ Taylor Swift announces imminent release of new album Opens in new window ] For example, the noticeable volume of Taylor Swift fans who flew in from the US for her three-night stint at the Aviva Stadium last June meant the Eras tour gave a 'boost' to the Dublin economy, though probably not by anything close to the €150 million sum – extrapolated from a flawed UK study – that circulated at the time. More sensibly, when Garth Brooks played five Croke Park dates in September 2022, Dublin Chamber estimated that 120,000 of the 400,000-plus attendees travelled from outside the Republic to see the country star and suggested that this could be worth €35 million to the economy. Will 30 per cent of the Oasis gig-goers this Saturday and Sunday also be from outside the State? That proportion could be on the high side, though if it was the case the two Oasis dates would be worth €14 million to the economy based on similar spending assumptions. But if we say 20 per cent of the total two-night capacity of 164,000 travel to Dublin from outside the Republic and spend, for example, €200 to share a two-person hotel room, €60 on food and drink and €30 on transport once they're here – expenditure that flows back to the local economy – that would work out as a consumer spending injection of €9.5 million. What we do know for sure is that the gigs will have attracted significant overseas interest, if only because tickets for the Dublin gigs went on sale a full hour before they did for UK cities and British fans didn't want to miss out on any chance to see the band. [ 'The best night out': The Gen-Z 'Ticketmaster warriors' spending €1,500 a year on gigs Opens in new window ] But while the Oasis gigs and the Robbie Williams concert that follows on August 23rd won't exactly do the economy or the GAA's stadium rental revenues any harm, they likely won't be as lucrative as two other events at Croke Park this year. The Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Kansas State and Iowa State later this month and September's NFL game between Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings are both expected to lure substantial numbers of high-spending US fans for several days – a huge spending boon compared with mini-breaking gig tourists. As for how much the Gallagher brothers will make, estimates vary, but one early report by academics at Birmingham City University estimated that the brothers would earn £50 million (€58 million) each from the 14 dates that were initially announced for Britain and Ireland. That tally soon increased to 17 concerts, with dates subsequently announced for the US, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. This took the full tour up to 41 dates, swelling the total payout considerably. The other band members on the tour will be earning much less, while if Noel Gallagher , as the songwriter, opts to sell his rights to the band's master recordings in the future, the uptick in streaming of Oasis songs triggered by the tour will enhance their value, meaning he should clean up more than his younger brother. Whatever the actual bonanza, it's clear there is money in nostalgia, in suspending brotherly hostilities and, most of all, in being a Rock 'n' Roll Star.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
'Dream ticket' - Brendan Gleeson on returning to stage after ten years
After a ten-year absence from the stage, Brendan Gleeson is returning to the stage for The Weir, describing the opportunity as a "dream ticket". The Olivier Award winning play, directed for the first time by its writer Conor McPherson, will have a three-week run at the 3Olympia in Dublin before opening in London's West End. Final touches were being put to the play and stage today ahead of the official opening tomorrow night. Gleeson plays Jack in the play about four regulars in a Co Leitrim pub, who tell tales of folklore, ghosts and fairies with a young woman recently arrived from Dublin, before she tells a story, which leaves them shaken. The actor said The Weir is the reason he has returned to the stage after a decade, saying: "It's kind of a dream ticket for me, it really is, to be back here with this particular play, at this time with these actors, it's just thrilling." Joining him on stage are Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Owen McDonnell, Sean McGinley and Kate Phillips as Valerie in the play produced by Landmark Productions and Kate Horton Productions. Gleeson said the cast have been having great fun with McPherson directing, almost three decades since he wrote it. "We're having fun with it, and he's having fun with it. But ultimately, you know, the bulk of the play is the kind of emotional content of it and all those vulnerabilities…I mean, we're all vulnerable," he said. He said it is an important and "very profound" play about communication and people talking to each other, not being on mobile phones and supporting each other. McPherson said: "It feels like a real privilege to be able to get to revisit an old play like this and just direct it for the first time with such an amazing cast, kind of discovering it in a whole new way after all this time." He said it was a pleasure to work with such an experienced cast, saying he "couldn't be happier and I feel very blessed, because everywhere I look in the rehearsal room or on the stage, there's just somebody doing something really interesting and with lovely depth and lovely humour and great comedy and great timing, and also lovely sentiment and emotion". The writer said when the play was originally performed in 1997 it was only supposed to run for three weeks, but went on to win the Olivier Award for best new play two years later. Gleeson also paid tribute to RTÉ broadcaster Sean Rocks, who died following a brief illness recently, saying he showed extraordinary support for the arts. He said he would love to see a dedicated arts section as part of RTÉ's Six One News. He said: "Wouldn't it be great testament to [Sean Rocks] and to Michael D who's going to finish up this year, if there was a dedicated section in the six o'clock news for an artistic segment the same way as there is for sport. "Everybody thinks of us as an artistic people, we are, but I think for young people looking at the news, to see something as a section like that….would be fantastic." The Weir runs in the 3Olympia from 13 August until 6 September. The production will then transfer to London's West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 12 September to 6 December marking Gleeson's West End debut.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
I might not be able for all the dads crying at the Oasis reunion
Almost two years ago in this column , I wrote 'if Oasis ever do reform, I might be glad to have my box of memories to really lean into the nostalgia. Will I print off a paper version of my QR code for posterity? Definitely. Maybe.' I truly can scarcely believe that this weekend, it's happening. The hysteria is almost overwhelming. The Aldi in East Wall temporarily changed its name to 'Aldi Wonder Wall'. There are tattoo pop ups, pub takeovers, frantic ticket searches and pleas online to 'swap seated for standing' as incredulous diehards scramble to be in the mix at Croke Park . I'm a diehard, and I'm going both nights. One seated, one standing. A lovely balance. Obviously, I can't wait to see Oasis, the Gallagher brothers together again , eyebrow to eyebrow. I'm excited to see the crowd too. READ MORE A friend went in Wembley Stadium a couple of weeks ago and said it was 'like an Adidas convention'. Oasis, in a shrewd business move, have leant heavily into the merchandising side of things. Their fans are middle-aged now. They have disposable income and have decided, en masse, to wear their Oasis hearts on their sleeves, literally. My teenage Oasis T-shirts are long gone, so I've bought two more in something of a panic. I'm worried I might not be able for all the dads crying. I've seen a lot of videos, from Edinburgh, Manchester, Cardiff, London, of beefy men reduced to tears as Liam and Noel tag team the lyrics in Acquiesce – because we need each other, we believe in each other – or Hello – it's good to be back, said it's good to be back. It's dads of all ages, from 30 to 60 and beyond. It's almost as if the reunion announcement, the thundering helicopters at the beginning of What's the Story Morning Glory? awoke a horde of Oasis faithful from their slumber and they've all staggered bleary and teary eyed towards the sound. I'm attending both concerts with my best friend and the one person who never gave up hope on Noel and Liam one day burying the hatchet: Ireland's biggest Oasis fan Sarah Breen. [ Oasis in Cardiff: This was emotional Opens in new window ] Fans Oasis react outside the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on July 4, 2025, after attending the opening concert. Photograph: Oli Scarff/ AFP/ Getty Images She had to take a day off school when Liam Gallagher married Patsy Kensit. She was barred from the Merrion Hotel for sneaking in to meet Liam and Bonehead when Oasis were in Dublin in 2003 for their Heathen Chemistry tour. Her kids roll their eyes when she goes on one of her Oasis rants but can identify the opening chords of any song within seconds which will surely stand to them during their teenage years and beyond. She owns more T-shirts than I thought possible. Her credentials are solid. On the evening of the first gig of Live '25 in Cardiff , Sarah and I legged it from a work event to the nearest pub. I found someone on TikTok generously livestreaming the show from the Principality Stadium and we propped my phone up between us and took an earbud each. [ Oasis revival is 2025's Brat Summer. It lets us dream of a better time Opens in new window ] 'Oh my God, the dads are crying,' Sarah wailed, crying herself. There's something beautiful about seeing men weeping in public at something they love. It's often sports-related. The emotions Oasis are bringing out in the dads might be similar to the happy tears evoked by seeing a favourite team storm to victory. We all remember that clip of veteran Irish Times journalist John Healy crying in a Dublin Castle press tent when Ireland went through on penalties against Romania in Italia 90. Paul Gascoigne famously cried during Italia 90 too, emotion spilling out after a yellow card dashed his hopes of a spot in the semi-final against West Germany. There's a sporting edge to the Oasis reunion show too. During Cigarettes and Alcohol Liam instructs the crowd to 'do the poznan', a football celebration adopted by the Gallagher brothers' beloved Man City. There's more to dads than football and Oasis, of course, but the open-armed response to this reunion and a chance to see men experience joy akin to that evoked by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has been the highlight of the summer. Hell, I even feel some sort of fatherly pride seeing Liam and Noel – 'our kid' to each other – hug and celebrate on stage. Estranged from their own father, the brothers might just feel the love coming from thousands of dads in Croke Park this weekend. If those dads are crying, you'll find me in a puddle on the floor.
