CST Welcomes Druid Theater Co, Presents THE WALWORTH FARCE 10/28-11/1

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) welcomes Druid, one of Ireland's premier theater companies to Chicago with their production of The Walworth Farce, award-winning playwright Enda Walsh's biting social commentary disguised as a high farce. The production marks the second of three productions in CST's 2009/10 World's Stage Series. Druid's The Walworth Farce runs for a limited engagement October 28 through November 1, 2009 Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. Tickets are $46-$56 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more and all CST patrons receive a 40% parking discount. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visiting the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

The Walworth Farce takes us into the frenzied world of Dinny and his two young adult sons, Sean and Blake. At 11 o'clock in the morning in a shabby London flat on Walworth Road, the three prepare for the day that will begin-like any other day-with a six pack of beer, 15 crackers with spreadable cheese, 10 pink biscuit wafers and one oven-cooked chicken with a strange blue sauce. The day will end-like any other day-with five murders. This hilarious tragedy, which garnered an Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 2007, is filled with cross-dressing, mistaken identities, rapid-fire costume changes and a cast of colorful characters-including a dead dog, a brain surgeon and an amateur thespian with a severe case of OCD. Outrageously funny moments combine with shocking realism to deliver an achingly tender insight into what happens when we convince ourselves that the stories we tell about our lives are true. Walsh delves unsparingly into why Dinny left Ireland, why his sons don't leave him, and the story that has entrapped them all for years.

Founded in Galway in 1975, Druid was the first professional theater company in Ireland to form outside of Dublin and has since risen to be one of Ireland's premier theater companies. Aside from productions in their home performance space (the Town Hall Theatre in Galway), Druid tours extensively all over the world and first received attention from American audiences with its production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh which won four Tony Awards in 1998. Other touring productions have included McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan and two plays developed through Druid's New Writing Programme, The Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom, both by Enda Walsh and recipients of an Edinburgh Fringe First Award.

Enda Walsh is among Ireland's most widely produced contemporary playwrights, having written extensively for the stage, radio and film. He was a founding member of Corcadorca Theatre Company in Cork in 1994, where he produced his breakthrough play Disco Pigs that won the Stewart Parker Award and the George Devine Award. His screenplay Hunger won numerous awards including the 2008 Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Best First Film, Best Film awards at the Sydney and Jerusalem Film Festivals and the Gold Hugo Award at Chicago International Film Festival, among many others.

The cast of The Walworth Farce includes Michael Glenn Murphy as Dinny, Tadhg Murphy as Sean, Raymond Scannell as Blake and Mercy Ojelade as Hayley.

The creative team includes Director Mikel Murfi, Set and Costume Designer Sabine Dargent, Lighting Designer Paul Keogan and Casting Director Maureen Hughes.

Following this summer's outdoor aquatic spectacle Water Fools (Fous de Bassin) performed by France's Ilotopie, The Walworth Farce continues CST's 2009/10 World's Stage Series, that will conclude this spring with Russia's Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg's production of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. Through the World's Stage Series, CST has brought to its stage 26 international productions and has shared its own uniquely American brand of Shakespeare performance with the world. For Chicago audiences, the World's Stage Series is a passport to experiencing exceptional international work.

Druid's The Walworth Farce runs for a limited engagement October 28 through November 1, 2009 Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. Tickets are $46-$56 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more and all CST patrons receive a 40% parking discount. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visiting the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

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