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Irish Post
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Reunion, Mark O'Rowe's gripping family drama, gets London premiere
MARK O'ROWE'S gripping family saga Reunion will get its London premiere later this year after enjoying sellout runs in Dublin and Galway. 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
RTÉ News
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Cork Midsummer Festival returns with a cultural lark by the Lee
From a 24-hour play to a horde of giraffes of the city streets, Festival Director Lorraine Maye previews the 2025 Cork Midsummer Festival programme, bringing an eclectic array of cultural activities to Cork city this June. Cork is the stage for Cork Midsummer Festival, where extraordinary Irish and international artists meet audiences in theatres, streets and unexpected places. So many people come together in the city to make this festival happen and it channels Cork's unique sense of adventure and playful spirit. The thing I love most about it, is that it always feels so alive - there are so many different ways to encounter live theatre, dance, music, circus, literature and art. There are always imaginative ways for people to participate and get involved and it's where the stories of the city meet the stories of the world. There are shows you won't see elsewhere in Ireland, art that will be seen for the very first time and moments that will never be repeated. From 4pm on Saturday 14 June until 4pm on Sunday 15 June, we will gather in Cork Opera House to watch Eileen Walsh, one of our finest actors, do something truly remarkable. She'll perform the same theatrical scene 100 times opposite 100 different men, most of whom are not actors. She has never done it before and will never do it again. The show is Nat Randall and Anna Breckon's The Second Woman and acclaimed versions with other actors have been performed in cities all over the world. For audiences – who can come and go over the 24 hours, stay for 30 minutes or the full event – it's a once in a lifetime experience. Another part of our Australian season is Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam, where performers race against the clock to complete a series of tasks – all while running on treadmills. They aren't always successful – at a recent performance in St Ann's Warehouse in New York they admitted they failed 29 out of 44 times performing the show. No two shows are alike. Amanda Coogan, one of Ireland's most celebrated artists, returns to the festival with an incredible new durational work Caught Among the Furze. This 7 day immersive performance invites audiences to step in and out of moments of stillness and raw endurance and will evolve and change each day. Following the sell-out success of last year's debut performance of the Solstice Céili by Martin O'Donoghue at Elizabeth Fort, this year is centred around new co-created dances, fire and magic. It's an unmissable celebration of Midsummer ritual and new traditions and all kinds of fun and joy. I'm really excited about all of the new work that will be presented across the city. On Emmet Place, Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals' Theatre For One: Made in Cork will feature new short plays by Cónal Creedon, Katie Holly, John McCarthy, Michael John McCarthy, Gina Moxley and Louise O'Neill. Cork theatre maker Irene Kelleher will present a cracking double bill of shows including Stitch in site-responsive locations and emerging Cork artist Aaron O'Neill will present his hilarious new play Bottlenose: a Mystery for Modern Ireland. At The Everyman, the first audiences will see a new production of Caryl Churchill's masterpiece Escaped Alone by Hatch Theatre Company and The Everyman in association with Once Off Productions. We're thrilled to be working in partnership with UCC for the first time this year to develop a new literature strand called Western Frequencies. Co-curated with Danny Denton, events will take place in venues on campus and feature bestselling international writers such as Claudia Rankine and GauZ' with translations from Frank Wynne, alongside award-winning and celebrated Irish writers Patrick McCabe, who will perform with David Murphy and Michael Lightborne, and Sinead Gleeson in conversation with her long-time collaborator Aideen Barry, our festival artist in residence. Through our participation programme, we have a special focus this year on amplifying the voices of young people. Twelve Cork girls take control of the airwaves in Action Hero's Rebel Resistors Radio Club. While the young people participating in the Midsummer Youth Assembly take over Fitzgerald's Park. The festival will open with a giant installation of the sun at St Fin Barre's (Helios by Luke Jerram) and end with a herd of huge French giraffes parading down St Patricks Street (Les Girafes by Compagnie Off). Join us in June for bright nights, bold art and unforgettable live encounters.
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Brendan Gleeson to return to the stage for the first time in 10 years in Conor McPherson's play The Weir
Brendan Gleeson is to act on stage for the first time in a decade in Dublin this August, in a new production of The Weir, the play written – and now, for the first time, directed – by Conor McPherson . After its four-week run at the 3Olympia Theatre ends, on September 6th, the show, which is being staged by Landmark Productions and Kate Horton Productions, will transfer to London for a 12-week run that will be Gleeson's West End debut. The actor, who describes The Weir as profoundly moving, inspiring and ultimately hopeful – 'one of the rarest plays around' – began acting in theatre but is now better known for his screen performances, from In Bruges to his Oscar-, Bafta- and Golden Globe-nominated role in The Banshees of Inisherin. 'The last time I appeared on stage was 10 years ago, at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, where I started my career. I can't wait to be back there, and then to play in the West End for the first time, at the beautiful Pinter Theatre .' READ MORE That Olympia production, also staged by Landmark, was of Enda Walsh's The Walworth Farce , in 2015. Gleeson appeared in it with his sons Brian and Domhnall. McPherson's 1997 play, which is set over an evening in a rural pub in Co Leitrim, sees the regulars interrupted by a young woman recently arrived from Dublin. They share stories with her – about folklore, ghosts and fairies – and she tells her own melancholy tale. The Weir won an Oliver Award for best new play after premiering at the Royal Court in London; it opened on Broadway in 1999. It has since been performed all over the world, including at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 2022. 'It's an absolute honour to bring this play to life again with one of the great titans of Irish acting,' McPherson says. The writer's new play, The Brightening Air , has just opened in London, with a predominantly Irish cast, to strong reviews. [ The Brightening Air at the Old Vic review: Conor McPherson's outstanding new play turns convention on its head Opens in new window ] Anne Clarke of Landmark , one of Ireland's leading theatre producers, says she got involved after Horton called to say that she had been 'working with McPherson on a new production of The Weir' and that 'Brendan Gleeson had agreed to play Jack. They were hoping the production would open in Dublin, ahead of a West End run. I had been lucky enough to work with Brendan before.' The thought of working with him 'on Conor's sublime play was a thrill'. Horton, a producer of more than 100 world premieres, with awards that include a Pulitzer, Tony and Olivier, says she was 'spellbound' at the premiere of McPherson's play and couldn't have wished for more for the writer 'to agree to direct his own masterpiece for the first time' and 'for the magnificent Brendan Gleeson to agree to lead the cast'. Tickets for the Irish run go on sale on Saturday, May 3rd.
