Q44 Presents SHINING CITY and Your First Opportunity to PAY IT FORWARD

Dublin. Terrified and alone, grieving widower John, in his first ever therapy session confesses his disturbing encounters with his recently deceased wife Mari. Ian, former priest wrestling with his own demons, listens, in what is his first ever session as counsellor.

From November 8, Q44 Theatre presents Conor McPherson's Shining City, directed by Gabriella Rose-Carter. Described as a struggle between the living and the dead, Shining City is a ghost story about sex, guilt and therapy.

"His words go directly to the heart and the soul", says Gabriella. "The dialogue and music of Conor McPherson's work is about the inability to understand yourself. Shining City is a study on people who are guilt ridden and manage to haunt themselves".

John can't work out what Mari is trying to say, communication is stifled, much like it was when she was alive, and his encounters with her aren't all that different to the meetings between other people we see and hear about in Shining City. Four desperate, lonely people, all haunted and consumed by guilt, trying to find a home, and some sense of meaning to their own existence.

Born in Dublin, Conor McPherson is a playwright and screenwriter. Referred to by The New York Times, as 'the finest playwright of his generation', among other accolades, he received a Tony Award nomination for Shining City in 2006. His plays include The Nest, The Weir, Port Authority, The Good Thief, The Seafarer, The Dance of Death, and Dublin Carol.

Shining City is the first production in Q44's Pay It Forward. A program where people are invited to purchase a gift ticket for someone they don't know. Someone who may never otherwise get to experience the richness that theatre has to offer. The gift tickets will be given to beyondblue and allocated to members of blueVoices, beyondblue's reference group and online community for people who experience depression and anxiety, or support someone who does. In addition to the gift of the ticket, $20 from every Pay It Forward ticket sold will be donated to beyondblue to support the work they do caring and supporting the community every single day. It's literally the gift that keeps on giving.

"McPherson at his best, laying bare the soul in all its pathetic, flawed ordinariness." - London Evening Standard

"Shining City is right up there with The Weir, moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping." - Daily Telegraph

"McPherson brilliantly reconciles the mundane and the metaphysical. The play is anchored in the real world; yet beneath the everyday Dublin world of business meetings and fumbling adulteries lurks a powerful sense of loneliness." - The Guardian

"A deeply human (as well as spiritual) play about belief and understanding, confession and guilt. Excellent work." - Independent on Sunday

Season Information

Opening Night: Tues Nov 8th, 7.30pm

Season: Nov 8th - Nov 27th

Performance Times: Wed-Sat: 7.30pm, Sun: 6pm

Venue & Booking Information

Q44 Theatre

Bookings: www.q44.com.au

Address: 1st Floor, 550 Swan St, Richmond VIC 3121

Tram: Route 70 Tram, Stop 16 - Park Grove/Swan St (Burnley)

Train: Burnley Train Station (Glen Waverly, Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein lines)

Casting

Anthony Scundi is Ian
Sebastian Gunner is John
MAdeline Claire French is Neasa
Nick Cain is Laurence