Latest news with #JunoandthePaycock
Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Fergus Finlay: Skorts row might seem silly but it highlights a bigger issue
The world is in a terrible state of chassis, son. That was an expression my father used to use a lot when I was a kid. In fact, it was his explanation for everything — why we couldn't have the immersion on; why the buses or the banks were on strike; why the weather was too miserable to allow us to go down to the seafront in Bray. I never knew quite what it meant, although it seemed to sum everything up perfectly. Especially the things for which there wasn't a proper explanation in the first place. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that the phrase was actually the last line in Sean O'Casey's great play Juno and the Paycock. It was uttered by the Paycock himself, Captain Jack Boyle, right at the end, as he sinks into drunken despair. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Subscribe to access all of the Irish Examiner. Annual €120€60 Best value Monthly €10€4 / month Unlimited access. Subscriber content. Daily ePaper. Additional benefits.
Extra.ie
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Gate Theatre to bring classic show to 3Olympia this summer
Brian Friel's classic play Dancing at Lughnasa is set to have a run at the 3Olympia Theatre from June 27 to July 26. Produced by the Gate Theatre, which previously staged the show in a sold-out run last year, the revival marks the first time a Gate show has been presented on the 3Olympia stage in 35 years, since Sean OCasey's Juno and the Paycock in 1990. 'We are thrilled to rekindle our historic relationship with the Olympia Theatre', said Gate Theatre Executive Director Colm O'Callaghan. 'Our strategic vision is that of an 'Open Gate' where everyone has access to great theatre, and playing to 3Olympias summer audiences is a great way to help us realise this and to expand our audience.' O'Callaghan also added: 'Collaborating with 3Olympia also means that our own stage is available to deliver on other key strategic goals such as premiering contemporary international plays.' The critically acclaimed production will be once again directed by Caroline Byrne, and features a cast including Lauren Farrell, Peter Gowen, and Pauline Hutton. Set in 1936 in the fictional Donegal town of Ballybeg, Dancing at Lughnasa follows the lives of the five Mundy sisters. The play originally premiered in 1990 at the Abbey Theatre and has since become one of Friels most celebrated plays. Considered one of the greatest Irish playwrights of all time, Friel's body of work also includes other classics such as Translations , Philadelphia Here I Come! , and Faith Healer . Tickets for Dancing at Lughnasa are on sale now and can be found here.
Boston Globe
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Boston's theater community loses an influential founder
Ritchell, who died Dec. 30, 2024, leaves a rich legacy of committing to and nurturing some of Boston's best actors, directors, and designers (including Elliot Norton Award winners Advertisement 'Ron was a lovable curmudgeon and a craftsman actor with a particular stage presence,' said Plum, who was cast in one of the company's earliest productions, 'Dial M for Murder,' when she was a Boston University undergraduate. 'He and Polly were incredibly driven theater people and their knowledge of British theater was massive,' she said. 'They were among the pioneers of Boston theater who were committed to building a strong theater community here.' Ritchell worked as both an actor and director, giving memorable performances in such classics as 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' and 'Juno and the Paycock,' as well as in a much-beloved holiday production of Dylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' that was adapted and directed by Hogan. At the Lyric, Ritchell and Hogan also produced 25 world premieres, but were best known for introducing Boston audiences to the relationship comedies of Alan Ayckbourn, and memorable productions of works by Noel Coward and George Bernard Shaw. Advertisement 'Ron, in his time, was a pillar of local theater, hiring local actors,' said actor Jeremiah Kissel, 'the one union contract in Boston for Boston actors when there were only three contract houses in town — the Huntington, ART, and the Lyric. Only Ron Ritchell and Polly Hogan did a full seven-show season using only local performers, and by doing so launched many career actors and actresses who successfully built lives right here in Boston.' Their commitment to local actors was also demonstrated by their leadership in launching the Theater Community Benevolent Fund (along with Mary C. Huntington, founder of the Nora Theatre), which provides confidential, financial relief to theater artists facing hardship. After leaving the Lyric in 1998, Ritchell and Hogan launched Lyric West before retiring first to Canada and then to Florida. Hogan passed away in 2023.
