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Home , Abbey Theatre, John Millington Synge, The Memory of Water

THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BELFAST INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL BY J.M.SYNGE DIRECTED BY OONAGH

MAIN STAGE 19 NOV 2019 - 4 JAN 2020 WELCOME TO THE LYRIC THEATRE DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS BY GRIMES & McKEE

Welcome to our co-production with the Theatre massive interest in the folkloric narratives because Festival of J.M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. they contained the mythic and archetypal views of our past. Those who say Synge transcribed the voice of the In these strange times of opportunistic politics, we have onto his manuscript diminish the genius come to rely on a sort of hero to see us out of what looks of extraordinary writing. Writing is not documentary, like a messy labyrinth. A sort of hero with a story. When it is not about being true to an idea of a people, it is we look to great theatre, we can claim that the English about, and only about, itself. Synge found liberation have Hamlet as a sort of hero even though he is Danish, in the voices of the west and his brilliance dances and the Irish have Christy Mahon, a sort of hero and also across the stages that bring life to his world. Like from somewhere northern. Hamlet is weighted down by Shakespeare, Synge is capable of taking any intriguing indecision and guilt. Christy flies in the face of a story concept so long as the quality of this provocation that inspires desire and dread. Both protagonists must is a response based on love and respect. There is confront the ghosts of their fathers to find their true worth. no point in dressing a well-loved classic in modern 29 NOV 2019 - 4 JAN 2020 Hamlet eventually makes a decision that collapses the clothes unless you have those qualities in abundance. existing state around his dying body. Christy confronts Likewise, there is no point re-dressing it in peat and his worst fear but finds his true voice and spirit. Both tweed unless you can liberate it from the trappings of heroes lose their lovers in the course of their quest. The a museum piece. I feel Oonagh and her brilliant team difference is that Ophelia is driven mad and to her grave of actors are allowing us to hear the play fresh again. by Hamlet’s provocations; and Pegeen, who is more forthright than Ophelia, more vibrant, more independent In 1907, many theatregoers exclaimed The Playboy was a - but also, like Christy (like Hamlet), with father issues - thundering disgrace and should never have been staged PETER is driven to violence and action by what she feels was a at the national theatre. They were like the later folk lie. The story she believed was in fact untrue. She seeks traditionalists who tried to bring an axe to the cable that to destroy this problem but could be destroying herself. allowed Bob Dylan to go electric. In a way, it was Synge One reading of the play is that Pegeen is more proactive who was Dylan in this by going electric on the Irish blues. than the Playboy, confronting all manner of furies flying at her from the three village girl sirens to the most It’s easy to forget that The Playboy of the Western World dangerous enchantress of them all, the Widow Quin. was one of the great acts of the Irish Revolution. Not just because it scared the “bejaysus” out of those most The Playboy of the Western World, like Hamlet, is committed nationalists who saw the peasants as a noble one of world theatre’s undying classics. It contains race blighted by English control. The forces of the crown in its story multitudes that every society has found remain on the fringes of this story. These folk are not PAN an echo of itself in. There have been versions set in a community planning revolution against an outsider THE MUSICAL the Caribbean, the Soviet Union, India and inner-city oppressor, but instead beginning to tear at the bounds Dublin with a Nigerian immigrant as Christy. Synge they have put on themselves. The story is the thing. It ADAPTED FROM THE PLAY BY JM BARRIE has influenced all of the great writers in the theatre can make you a hero or bring retribution on your head. of the past hundred years - Bertolt Brecht, Sam BOOK, MUSIC & LYRICS BY PAUL BOYD Beckett, Lorca, Caryl Churchill, , etc. I hope you enjoy our production of it.

He was always the outsider. A friend with W.B. Yeats, Thank you for coming along. Synge’s first love was French literature - he was a graduate of the Sorbonne. It was Yeats who recommended Jimmy Fay he take himself to the west of and discover his Executive Producer voice. In the late 19th and early 20th century, there was Lyric Theatre BY ARRANGEMENT WITH GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL CHILDREN’S CHARITY AND SAMUEL FRENCH LTD. A CONCORD THEATRICALS COMPANY.

3 LYRICTHEATRE DIRECTOR’S NOTE FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM

And so you’ll hear that we’ve situated our shebeen, a little further north than Mayo, it's a failing pub in a small town at the edge of somewhere, on the border of one place and another. We’ve talked about places like Ballyshannon, and other town in Donegal, previously prosperous towns, cut off after partition, and facing huge fears about further marginalisation through a Brexit-imposed hard border.

In transposing it to here, it brings into sharp focus how the play is an exploration of the loneliness and disenfranchisement that comes from living in a place that lies far away from where the power lies. We meet young people growing up in the middle of nowhere with no real possibility of leaving, older people with little to no means of supporting themselves, numbing their lostness with alcohol. The spectre of addiction and suicide, throws a shadow across the reality of these characters’ psychological terrain. How do you take on Playboy? An urtext of the Irish theatrical canon, and arguably, a foundational myth of the In 2019 we live in an alternate reality to the world about ; a play, it seems with countless seminal which Synge was writing. And yet in many ways we’re productions in its past, is it even possible to approach the still dealing with the same power structures, ones that play afresh? could be seen as foundational to Irish society. It’s in that light that we see Pegeen’s plight, a young woman, There are the many interpretations of the Playboy, of what taking on the work of her alcoholic father, and yet still sort of allegory it is, and what it seeks to say, beyond its somehow feeling the limits of her personal freedoms comedy. If we are to take the playwright at his own word, in a world structured to view her as something to be when writing in the Irish Times after its premiere, Synge bartered between two men. remarked: ‘a great deal more that is behind it, is perfectly serious, when looked at in a certain light’. He observes Our production takes the pulse of the young women of that Patrick D. Kenny’s review of the play had noted that the town, their hopes and ambitions, their amusements ‘there were several sides of “The Playboy”’ and Synge and their desires. In pushing them centre-stage, suggests cryptically that ‘there may be still be others, if the aim is to foreground, perhaps what it was that anyone cares to look for them’. upset the audiences at the Abbey in 1904, who cried ‘Shame’ from the auditorium. Back then, the mere famously examined the play in the light mention of the underwear of the female characters, of the hero Cuchulain, and the . Turning the and their representation ‘contending in their lusts for heroism of Cuchulain on his head, Synge uses the mock- the possession’ of Christy Mahon upset the piety of the hero Christy in an iconoclastic sense, warning against the middle class cultural nationalists. This respectability exaltation of graven images at a moment in Irish society politics, and fear of women having real agency in when ancient myth was being used to stoke the fervour their lives, set the tone for the decades after the of nationalist sentiment. This idea has propelled our work establishment of the Irish Free State, a systematic on the play, in one sense a caution about the manipulation project by government to limit the citizenship rights of of images around masculinity, violence, and martyrdom. Irish women between 1922 and 1937. By ’37, women’s rights were bound in a tight knot constitutionally, which And what does it mean to do this play right now? The we have been unpicking ever since. play was written in 1904, when Ireland was still under British rule. So my thoughts have been on what this text All of this pours light on our revival of Synge’s work, will mean to a contemporary audience in Belfast and and poses the question – might anything be considered in Dublin, as we live through this current moment in so incendiary to Irish society ever again? There may Anglo-Irish relations, and explore what it means for a no longer be a strong policing of certain themes from contemporary audience in both Belfast and Dublin. a moral perspective in our societies mainstream, but artists are far from unshackled from the threat of During the process of auditioning, I was struck by how censorship. With Playboy, Synge was presenting, not a many Northern Irish actors told me how good it felt to realistic view of Irish life, but a topsy-turvy ‘mirror up to say these words in their own accent, and how there society’. In 2019, are we able to look into that mirror and is a general sense that Synge has somehow always see ourselves, once and for all, or are there still aspects belonged to the south, to Dublin and . But these in that fragmented reflection which make us wince? stories ultimately belong to the whole island, to whoever connects to them, and what they say about our past and Oonagh Murphy our present identity. Director

4 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 5 LYRICTHEATRE BELFAST INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL SHOWS COMING UP AT THE FESTIVAL

A warm welcome to this new production of The Playboy of the Western World at the Lyric Theatre and supported by IRELAND’S CALL Belfast International Arts Festival. 23 - 26 OCT

Although John Millington’s Synge’s The Playboy of the Written and performed by John Connors. Western World is rightly regarded as a classic of Irish Follow the lives and family histories theatre, it rarely gets an outing in Northern Ireland. of three young men as they grow up So, it’s a great pleasure for us to partner once again in Coolock on Dublin’s northside. What with the Lyric Theatre to bring this new production shapes them and entices them to a life to Festival audiences from home and abroad. Most of crime? Examining issues of class, commentators remark on the play’s folk comedy roots religion and identity, this new play is and its controversial premiere at the in an unflinching exploration of the Irish 1907. However, the play continues to resonate with our psyche, bringing our collective guilts, contemporary world in sometimes unexpected ways. secrets and flaws to the surface. When Synge wrote the play, Playboy did not have the meaning it has today. Rather, it meant hoaxer or trickster. The Widow Quin calls Christy Mahon “the playboy of the western world" after discovering that his father is still alive. In doing so, she is in effect calling him a fraud or indeed liar in her belief that he conconcted the entire story. Audiences may recognise a similar approach to deceive through spinning tales by accomplished tricksters in our world today.

This production of The Playboy of the Western World features as part of our 57th festival edition and sits THE LYRIC THEATRE alongside a wonderful range of stage productions from home and abroad that can be seen right across our city. NEW PLAYWRIGHTS SHOWCASE The MAC plays host to Forced Entertainment’s Real Magic, pitched somewhere between Beckett and trash television The Lyric is delighted to present readings of six new plays developed through the New Playwrights Programme 2019. and described by as “hellishly entertaining “THE PLAY CONTINUES and a tour de force” and Pat Kinevane’s latest solo success, Before (winner of the Herald Archangel Award TO RESONATE WITH SHOWCASE 1 at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Meanwhile, the 31 OCT, 7PM spectacular To Da Bone, a fusion of street dance and hip hop sounds driven by a social media sensibility OUR CONTEMPORARY THE GAP YEAR can be seen at the Grand Opera House whilst down the by Clare McMahon road at An Cultúrlann, Timmy Creed gives a virtuoso performance in his heartfelt plea for a broader, more WORLD IN SOMETIMES BODYSNATCHING inclusive conception of masculinity in the tremendous by Annie Keegan Spliced. UNEXPECTED WAYS”

To find out more about these and other events in our SHOWCASE 2 2019 programme, simply go to 1 NOV, 7PM belfastinternationalartsfestival.com BIAF TEAM FUNNY STORY by Clare Monnelly Richard Wakely Artistic Director & Chief Executive ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CHIEF EXECUTIVE BUG-EYED Belfast International Arts Festival RICHARD WAKELY by Ross Wylie

GENERAL MANAGER NAOMI CONWAY SHOWCASE 3 2 NOV, 7PM MARKETING MANAGER SARAH KELLY ROAD by Sarah Gordon TECHNICAL DIRECTOR PHIL MCCANDLISH BROKEN LIGHT by Rían Smith MARKETING OFFICER ANDREW MOORE NEW NEW PLAYWRIGHTS PROGRAMME 2020 WRITING EVENT MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS SERVICE GEORGIA SIMPSON Submissions will open in December 2019 - keep an eye on our website for the next call for scripts! REBECCA BOYD

6 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 7 LYRICTHEATRE MOLLY O’CATHAIN, COSTUME DESIGNER TALKS US THROUGH HER PROCESS

Can you describe the creative process between Director Has having an all-female creative team had an impact on I’VE LOVED and Designer? your decision-making process?

DESIGNING PEGEEN’S It's a balancing act between what the play practically No, - but having a team of dynamic early/mid- needs and what the director and I want to say. Design is career creatives with a strong work ethic, excellent always a response to the text, and I think embracing this communication skills and a shared frame of artistic BEDROOM, AS FAR AS fact leads to more interesting results. It can frictionlessly reference has made everything about this production flow bolster, but why not be a source of dissonance, sour more fluidly. These qualities supersede gender - but in notes, sly critique that ultimately makes the whole my experience, they’re never in short supply in a strong I KNOW, SHE’S NEVER stronger? This was the question at the forefront of the female creative team. genesis of our design process for Playboy. HAD ONE BEFORE What is the biggest challenge you faced? Oonagh and I work very closely together - we hold Not allowing anything cutesy or “pub-tat”-y to sneak into (IN ANY OTHER similar political viewpoints and aesthetic taste and the design. It's easy, but generally simplistic for the past to know from previous collaboration that we have a shared appear sweet, nostalgic or wholesome. language and dynamic. And we’re both detail-obsessed! PRODUCTION). PLUS What are the benefits of designing both the set and What was your starting point in the design process? costume for a show? IT’S AN HOMAGE TO What comes through when you return to the play is the To me, they always go hand-in-hand as they are part of ALL THE BAD B’N’B real poverty and hardship that shapes these characters the same world. My job is to define the material culture lives and so we started to think about where the play of an imaginary world and then design according to the would sit in a more recent Ireland, perhaps in a place constraints I’ve created. For me, I find that that works best DECOR OF IRELAND. on a border. Somewhere coastal, perhaps previously within one vision and allows for close collaboration with prosperous, and now bypassed and forgotten, leaving the director. Pegeen stuck and its inhabitants pushed to violence through boredom and disillusionment. The aesthetic we Which piece was your favorite to design? have landed on references broadly, from the 1950s to the 1990s, rural Ireland in the era post electrification but pre- I’ve loved designing Pegeen’s bedroom. As far as I know, modernisation/digitalisation. This is true of anywhere, she’s never had one before (in any other production). Plus very few places contain only objects and aesthetics from it’s an homage to all the bad B’n’B decor of Ireland. the current decade.

Where did your inspiration come from?

The work of photographers such as Lise Sarfati, Martin Parr and Richard Billingham were on heavy rotation. Lise Safarti’s striking series documenting 1990’s Russia became our strongest palette and tonal reference. For more practical details I also gathered hundreds of references of bars and pubs; mainly from present-day Irish property listings and photographs of the flat roof pubs of post-war Britain.

8 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 9 LYRICTHEATRE DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM

Established in 1957, Dublin Theatre Festival is Recent festival editions have featured international Europe’s longest running theatre festival and projects by TR Warszawa, Toneelgroup Amsterdam, takes place for 3 weeks each Autumn. The National Theatre, The Wooster Group, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Elevator Repair Dublin Theatre Festival brings world-class theatre Service and Royal Shakespeare Company. to Dublin, supports artists in creating outstanding work and provides a platform to showcase the best In addition to the excellent Irish and International of Irish and international theatre to the world. theatre presented each year, Dublin Theatre Festival and The Ark cultural centre for children collaborate At the heart of the festival is the city of Dublin – to present a programme of fresh and engaging shows its people and its stories – and a commitment to created for children that adults also delight in. An contributing to the vibrant social and cultural life of In Development programme that runs during the the capital. Our mission is to present a programme festival offers theatre-makers an opportunity to try of exceptional theatrical experiences that will appeal out new ideas in front of an audience, giving the public to the diverse communities that make up our city. an insight into the artistic process. Previous work in progress presentations have premiered to acclaim at Dublin Theatre Festival has a rich history, with much subsequent festivals and gone on to tour internationally. to celebrate, but what we are most excited about is what is yet to come. Our mission is to have more people participating in culture as well as more artists creating bold new work that challenges and inspires.

Irish work premiered at the festival regularly goes on to tour internationally, including its co- production of Teaċ Damsa’s Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, which was named by The Guardian as the #2 production in the best dance of the 21st century. In 2015 Dublin Theatre Festival co-produced the Irish premier of Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive.

10 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 11 LYRICTHEATRE 8 OCT - 2 NOV 2019 A LYRIC THEATRE & DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL CO-PRODUCTION THE PLAYBOY WESTERN WORLD IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BELFAST INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL

CREDITS

CAST PRODUCTION MANAGER ADRIAN MULLAN ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER KATE MILLER MICHAEL JAMES FLAHERTY CHARLIE BONNER COMPANY STAGE MANAGER AIMEE YATES HONOR BLAKE HAZEL CLIFFORD DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER MEGAN MAGILL SHAWN KEOGH MICHAEL CONDRON ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER LOUISE BRYANS PHILLY CULLEN JO DONNELLY SOPHIE THOMPSON JIMMY FARRELL TONY FLYNN TRACEY LINDSAY SUSAN BRADY HOLLY HANNAWAY COSTUME SUPERVISOR GILLIAN LENNOX OLD MAHON FRANKIE McCAFFERTY COSTUME ASSISTANT ERIN CHARTERIS WIDOW QUIN AOIBHÉANN McCANN PRODUCTION INTERN SARAH CAREY SARA TANSEY MEGAN McDONNELL SENIOR TECHNICIAN IAN VENNARD CHRISTY MAHON MICHAEL SHEA TECHNICIANS ADRIAN WALL PEGEEN MIKE ELOÏSE STEVENSON CORENTIN WEST TIGHERNAN O’NEILL CREATIVES & PRODUCTION TEAM PRODUCTION LX GARETH WEAVER PROP MAKER MICHAEL EDGAR DIRECTOR OONAGH MURPHY LAUNDRY LAURA McALEENAN SET & COSTUME DESIGN MOLLY O’CATHAIN MEN’S HAIR KELLY McLEAN LIGHTING DESIGN AMY MAE MAKE UP ARTIST & WIG STYLING NUALA CAMPBELL COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGN JANE DEASY BREAKDOWN ARTISTS ENDA KENNY MOVEMENT DIRECTOR PAULA O’REILLY UNA HICKEY FIGHT DIRECTOR IAN McCRACKEN SET BUILD MADE FOR STAGE LTD. DIALECT COACH GAVIN O’DONAGHUE PHILLIP GOSS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JIMMY FAY STEPHEN BAMFORD WILLIE WHITE SCENIC ARTIST STUART MARSHALL PRODUCER BRONAGH McFEELY TRANSPORT PHILLIP GOSS CASTING DIRECTOR CLARE GAULT SET ELECTRICS LIAM CLANCY

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John Millington Synge (born April 16, 1871, —died March 24, 1909, Dublin) was an Irish “SYNGE’S TRAVELS playwright, poet, prose writer, travel writer and collector of folklore. He was also a leading figure in the and instrumental in the founding of the ON THE IRISH WEST Abbey Theatre. COAST INSPIRED HIS After studying at Trinity College and at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Synge pursued further studies from 1893 to 1897 in Germany, Italy and France. MOST FAMOUS PLAY, In 1894 he abandoned his plan to become a musician and instead concentrated on languages and literature. He THE PLAYBOY OF THE met William Butler Yeats while studying at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1896. Yeats inspired him with enthusiasm for the Irish Literary Revival and advised him to stop writing WESTERN WORLD critical essays and instead to go to the Aran Islands and draw material from life. Already struggling against the (1907). THE AUDIENCE progression of a lymphatic sarcoma that was to cause his death, Synge lived in the islands during part of each year (1898–1902), observing the people and learning RIOTED AT ITS OPENING their language, recording his impressions in The Aran Islands (1907) and basing his one-act plays In the Shadow AT THE ABBEY THEATRE” of the Glen (first performed in 1903) and (1904) on islanders’ stories. In 1905 his first three-act play, , was produced.

Synge’s travels on the Irish west coast inspired his most famous play, The Playboy of the Western World (1907). The audience rioted at its opening at the Abbey Theatre. Riots of Irish Americans accompanied its opening in New York (1911), and there were further riots in Boston and Philadelphia. Synge remained associated with the Abbey Theatre, where his plays gradually won acceptance, until his death. His unfinished , a poetic dramatisation of one of the great love stories of Celtic mythology, was performed there in 1910.

14 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 15 LYRICTHEATRE CAST CAST

Charlie Bonner Hazel Clifford Michael Condron Jo Donnelly Tony Flynn Holly Hannaway Michael James Flaherty Honor Blake Shawn Keogh Philly Cullen Jimmy Farrell Susan Brady

Charlie last appeared at the Lyric Hazel Clifford is from Dublin and Lyric Theatre credits include: Santa, Jo Donnelly graduated from the Lyric Theatre credits include: Saint Holly Hannaway is an actor and Theatre in ’s Lovers: trained at The Lir Academy. This is Bah Humbug, What the Reindeer Saw, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Joan, The Seafarer, Much Ado About comedian from Newry, based in Winners & Losers (2018). Previous her Lyric debut. Christmas Eve Can Kill You, Charlotte’s Nothing, Miss Julie. Belfast. She graduated from Queen’s Lyric credits: Sinners, Dancing At Web, Macbeth, Much Ado About Lyric Theatre credits: Colleen Bawn, University Belfast with a BA in Lughnasa and Volunteers. Other theatre credits: The Snapper Nothing, Sinners, Smiley, Here Comes What the Reindeer Saw, Ladykillers, Other theatre includes: Ubu the King, English and Drama and trained at (The ); La Ronde, The the Night, To Be Sure, Forget Turkey, Smiley, Demented, Forget Turkey, Re- Lally the Scut (Tinderbox); Lives in the Lyric Theatre. Theatre credits Other theatre credits: Every Day Winter’s Tale, The Caucasian Chalk . energize. Translation, What Where (Kabosh); include: The Heresy of Love (Lyric I Wake Up Hopeful, Prime Cut; Circle, Silence is Requested, Cripple Of Witness for the Prosecution (Dundee Theatre Belfast); Lessons in Love and Road, Philadelphia Here Innishmaan, Thyestes, Love’s Labour’s He has worked with all the theatre Other theatre credits: Cooking with Rep); and numerous appearances at Violence (Royal Opera House); Peter I Come, Good Evening Mr Collins, Elvis, Playhouse Creatures (Bruiser Lost (The Lir Academy); I’ve to Mind companies in Northern Ireland, and the Abbey Theatre including Alice in Pan (Courtyard Theatre); Tactics for Monkey, Melonfarmer, Macbeth, Theatre Co.); Can’t Pay Won’t Pay Her, This is What Makes us Girls has worked at Manchester Royal Funderland and The Plough and the Time Travel in a Toilet. Observatory, , The (Derby Playhouse); A Station Once (Dublin Youth Theatre). Exchange and Lyric Hammersmith. Stars. Shaughraun, Toupees & Snare Drums, Again (Brassneck Theatre Co.); Ubu The Quiet Woman, Portia Coughlan: Abbey and Peacock (Tinderbox); Rhinoceros, This is what (Theatre of Pluck); theatres, Dublin. Film and TV: Colour Blind (Picture Other theatre credits: The Boat we sang (Kabosh); Chronicles of Long Tony is a member of The Belfast Pr!ck (Black Box Theatre). Mode Studios); Starry Night (IADT). Factory (Off Broadway, King’s Head Kesh, Baby it’s Cold Outside (GBL). Ensemble and recently appeared in He has worked with companies Nominated for Best Young Talent, Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe). The Fall of the House of Usher, The Film and TV: Storyland (RTÉ); The throughout Ireland including the Gate Renaissance Film Festival, London, Film and TV: Ups and Downs, Pirates of Penzance and Lunaria as Secret Life of Balloons (BBC); her own Theatre, Everyman Cork, Verdant 2019. Nominated for Best Actress TV: Game of Thrones, Soft Border Flatmates, Line of Duty, A good woman part of BASH at the Lyric. He will one-woman comedy show, Jingle Productions, Field Day, Bedrock, Livin Irish Times Awards, Patrol (BBC1), Doing Money, Number is hard to find, Grace and Goliath. Jo also appear in their upcoming co- Belle. Holly was Artist in Residence Dred, Pan Pan, Red Kettle, Guna Nua, 2018. 2s, Tudors. Nominated for Best has just returned from LA where she production with Outburst Queer Arts with Amadan, a Belfast-based clown Corcadorca and Second Age. Ensemble Cast at the 2016 Screen was filming Forty Shades O’ Greene. Festival, Abomination, A DUP Opera, in and bouffon theatre company, in Actors Guild Awards in Hollywood. November. mid-2019. Film & TV: Zoo, Maze, The Devil’s Doorway, Childer, Rebellion, Red Rock, Omagh, The Tudors, The Race, Proof, Fair City, The Crush.

16 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 17 LYRICTHEATRE CAST CAST CREATIVE TEAM

Frankie McCafferty Aoibhéann McCann Megan McDonnell Michael Shea Eloïse Stevenson Oonagh Murphy Old Mahon Widow Quin Sara Tansey Christy Mahon Pegeen Mike Director

Frankie McCafferty has worked Lyric Theatre credits: A Streetcar Megan McDonnell was born in Dublin Michael Shea is a graduate of LAMDA Eloïse Stevenson is from Holywood, Previous theatre includes: The extensively as an actor in theatre, Named Desire. and grew up in Mayo. She trained at and comes from Northern Ireland. County Down, but grew up in Austria. Children, Tribes (Gate Theatre); film and television. His most recent The Lir Academy, graduating in 2018. Serious Money (The Lir); Shelter theatre role was in the Decadent Other theatre credits: The Great Theatre credits include: All Mod She is a recent graduate of The Lir (Druid, Galway International Arts Theatre adaptation of the Donal Ryan Gatsby, Assassins (Gate Theatre); A Lir Academy credits: The Caucasian Cons (Lyric Theatre); Peter and the National Academy of Dramatic Festival); Drip Feed (Soho Theatre novel The Thing About December at Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Portrait Chalk Circle (dir. Tom Creed), Starcatcher (Royal & Derngate); in Dublin, where she trained for and Fishamble, Edinburgh Fringe the Town Hall Theatre, Galway. of the Artist as a Young Man (Rough Dalliance (dir. Hilary Wood), The Desire Under The Elms (Sheffield three years. During her time there, and Dublin Fringe Festival); The Magic); Coast, Harder Faster More, Winter’s Tale (dir. Nona Shepphard), Crucible); Half a Glass of Water she worked with many of Ireland’s Mouth of a Shark (Where We Live, Lyric Theatre credits include: Wrapped (Red Bear Productions); Merrily We Roll Along (dir. Ronan (Theatre 503). leading theatre makers, such as THISISPOPBABY); Give Me Your Skin Conversations on a Homecoming, Stars in the Morning Sky (Belgrade Phelan). Annabelle Comyn (as Gina in The Wild (Battersea Arts Centre); (The Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Theatre, Coventry); Ourselves Alone Film and TV: Derry Girls, Doctors, Two Duck), Conall Morrison (as Dionyza Lir); Creaking (Bealtaine Festival Towards the Somme (Irish Times Irish (Just Theatre, Camden); Much Ado Other theatre credits include: One Angry Men, The Last Letter, Marcella. in Pericles and Maggie Cooney in national tour); The Poor Little Boy With Theatre Award), Molly Sweeney. About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew Fish, Two Fish, Bella Fish, Killian Temporal Powers), Annie Ryan (as No Arms ( and (Fortune’s Fool / Iveagh Gardens); (Home Theatre Ireland, Draíocht / Radio: The Trials of Saint Patrick. Annie in Dubliners), Oonagh Murphy national tour); Foxy, I am a Home Bird Other theatre credits: The Seafarer, Holes (Company of Angels); The Folk DTF); Fighting Words (Abbey Theatre). (as Scilla Todd in Serious Money), (It’s Very Hard) (Project Arts Centre); The Weir (Decadent Theatre); Contraption (Vault Festival, TV: Normal People (BBC / Element Louise Lowe (in a devised piece Be Infants in Evil (Druid Theatre Endgame, Dealer’s Choice (Prime Pictures); Miss Scarlet and the Duke as Catherine in The Black Church), Company); Ribbons, Love in a Glass Cut); Sharon’s Grave, Wild Harvest, Old Vic). Film, TV and radio: Vikings (Element8 / ShinAwil). Ronan Phelan (as Electra in Electra) Jar (Peacock Stage, Abbey Theatre). At the Black Pig’s Dyke (Druid); The (MGM, History); Can’t Cope, Won’t and Hilary Wood (as Lady Anne in Numbered (Corcadorca). Cope and A Terrible Beauty (RTÉ); The Having grown up in Erris, Co. Mayo, Shakespeare’s Richard III). Oonagh is a co-founder of Change Midnight Court, Cumann na mBan 100 The Playboy of the Western World of Address Collective, which works He trained at the Conservatoire (TG4). holds a special place in Megan’s with refugees and asylum seekers. National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique heart and she is delighted to make in Paris. Best Ensemble, Irish Times Irish her Lyric Theatre debut with this Theatre Award 2019. production.

18 LYRICTHEATRE #THEPLAYBOY 19 LYRICTHEATRE CREATIVE TEAM CREATIVE TEAM SUPPORTING CAST

PRINCIPAL FUNDER:

ALSO FUNDED BY:

Molly O’Cathain Amy Mae Jane Deasy Paula O’Reilly THE LYRIC IS ALSO GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY: Set & Costume Designer Lighting Designer Composer & Sound Designer Movement Director

Previous set and costume Theatre credits include: Two Jane Deasy is a composer and Theatre credits include: The Snapper design includes: It Was Easy (in Trains Running (Royal & Derngate sound designer based in Dublin and (World Premiere 2018, Gate Theatre); the end) (Abbey Theatre); Ask / ETT / RTST); (Lyric Glasgow. She is a recent graduate The Odd Couple (The Everyman); Too Much of Me, La liberazione di Hammersmith); [Un]Leashed: of the Glasgow School of Art. Bigger People (The Local Group / Ruggiero, A Holy Show (Peacock Sense of Time (Birmingham Royal Pentabus); In Our Veins (Bitter Like Theatre); Serious Money, The Ash Ballet); The Memory of Water The Playboy of the Western World A Lemon / The Abbey Theatre); Girls Fire (The Lir); Mr Burns (Rough (Nottingham Playhouse); The Trick is her debut at the Lyric Theatre. Like This (TU Dublin); The Tales of Magic); Everything Not Saved, (Bush Theatre, UK tour); Wild East Hoffmann(Irish National Opera); Jericho, BlackCatfishMusketeer, (Young Vic, Genesis Directors Her most recent work includes Pulse (Primecut Productions); Hansel LOVE+ (Malaprop Theatre). Award); Hansel and Gretel (Rose performing in The Patient Gloria & Gretel, SINNEAD, One Night Only Theatre, Kingston); The Fishermen by Gina Moxley at The Traverse for Two Nights (The MAC); Harder, THIS THEATRE HAS THE SUPPORT OF THE CHANNEL 4 Costume design includes: Danse, (Edinburgh Fringe, Arcola Theatre, (Abbey Theatre, Gina Moxley Faster, More (Red Bear Productions); PLAYWRIGHTS’ SCHEME SPONSORED BY CHANNEL 4 Morob (The Emergency Room); Trafalgar Studios, UK tour); Three and Pan Pan). She is currently Acis & Galetea (Irish National TELEVISION AND BY THE PEGGY RAMSAY FOUNDATION Recovery (One Two One Two). Sat Under the Banyan Tree (Polka Artist in Residence at Dublin Opera); The Fairy Queen (RIAM); Associate and assistant design Theatre, Coventry Belgrade, UK City Council’s Albert Cottages. Herculaneum (Wexford Festival includes: The Snapper (Gate Theatre tour); About Leo (Jermyn Street); Opera); Cristina, Regina di Svezia, / Paul Wills); Road (Royal Court / Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok Le roi malgré lui (Wexford Festival IN-KIND SPONSORS: Chloe Lamford); Assassins, Way to (Royal Exchange, UK tour); Exploding Opera); Orfeo ed Euridice (Buxton Heaven (Rough Magic / Zia Holly). Circus (Pavilion Theatre, Worthing, Opera Series); The Rubberbandits UK Tour); Br’er Cotton (Theatre (Electric Picnic, The Olympia). Production design includes: 503); Sweeney Todd: The Demon Everything Not Saved (RTÉ Barber of Fleet Street (Harrington’s Film and TV: Ponydance: The Movie / Storyland); Tinman (Saint Pie and Mash Shop, West. (TG4), The Savage Eye (RTÉ 2). Sister / Bob Gallagher), Rituals (Body& Soul/Kevin Freeney).

Molly is a co-founder of Malaprop Theatre.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS TECHNICIANS CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WITH YOUR STAFF? SIR BRUCE ROBINSON (CHAIRMAN) TIGHEARNAN O’NEILL LUCY ARMSTRONG STEPHEN DOUDS (VICE CHAIRMAN) ADRIAN WALL PAMELA ARMSTRONG PHIL CHEEVERS CORENTIN WEST EMMA BRENNAN OLWEN DAWE CARLA BRYSON NUALA DONNELLY COSTUME SUPERVISOR SARAH CAREY WANT TO GIVE YOUR STAFF AND THEIR PATRICIA McBRIDE GILLIAN LENNOX HANNAH CONLON MIKE MULLAN ELLISON CRAIG FAMILIES A MAGICAL DAY OUT? DR MARK PHELAN COSTUME ASSISTANT ALACOQUE DAVEY ERIN CHARTERIS THOMAS FINNEGAN PATRON CHRIS GRANT OBE HEAD OF FINANCE & HR CATHAL HENRY MICHEÁL MEEGAN TERESA HILL EXECUTIVE PRODUCER HELENNA HOWIE WITH GROUP OFFERS AND JIMMY FAY FINANCE OFFICER BECKY HUGHES PRE-THEATRE DINING, PLUS TONI HARRIS PATTON MEGAN KEENAN PRODUCER GERARD KELLY TOP-CLASS CHRISTMAS BRONAGH McFEELY FINANCE ASSISTANTS FERGAL LINDSAY SHOWS TO SUIT ADULTS SINEAD GLYMOND LAURA McALEENAN AND FAMILIES, WE’VE GOT CASTING DIRECTOR RACHAEL TRAINOR PATRICIA McGREEVY CLARE GAULT MARY McMANUS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE HEAD OF CREATIVE LEARNING CATHAN McROBERTS THIS FESTIVE SEASON. LITERARY MANAGER PHILIP CRAWFORD CATHERINE MOORE REBECCA MAIRS DÓNAL MORGAN CREATIVE LEARNING MANAGER SAMANTHA OBMAN HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING PAULINE McKAY BERNADETTE OWENS CLAIRE MURRAY BOBBI RAI PURDY CREATIVE LEARNING SCHOOLS CO-ORDINATOR MELISSA RUTNAGUR MARKETING MANAGER ERIN HOEY RACHEL LEITCH VOLUNTEERS HEAD OF CUSTOMER SERVICE JEAN DUMAS MARKETING OFFICER JULIE McKEGNEY YVONNE DUMAS AIVEEN KELLY JOAN GORMLEY CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS BRONAGH McCALLISTER MARKETING ASSISTANT MARINA HAMPTON EVELINE WILKINSON KATIE ARMSTRONG ASHLENE McGURK

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT DUTY SUPERVISORS KERRY FITZSIMMONS DÓNAL MORGAN HANNAH CONLON PR & PRESS RACHAEL HARRIOTT BOX OFFICE SUPERVISOR EMILY WHITE HEAD OF PRODUCTION ADRIAN MULLAN BOX OFFICE DEPUTY SUPERVISOR PAUL McCAFFREY ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER KATE MILLER HOUSEKEEPING DEBBIE DUFF COMPANY STAGE MANAGER AMANDA RICHARDS AIMEE YATES SAMANTHA WALKER

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS LOUISE BRYANS STEPHEN DIX KERRI McGIMPSEY CONTACT OUR FRONT OF HOUSE TEAM TO BOOK SENIOR TECHNICIAN (LIGHTING & SOUND) YOUR PERFECT CHRISTMAS PARTY TODAY. IAN VENNARD 028 9038 1081 OR EMAIL [email protected] Programme: darraghneely.com

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