THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER Returns To The Abbey This Winter
Performances run 10 – 31 December 2022.
Rehearsals began this morning for The Long Christmas Dinner by Thornton Wilder which runs on the Peacock stage from 10 - 31 December. This classic play is a gift-wrapped seasonal gem, guaranteed to delight and surprise.
The Abbey's critically acclaimed production of The Long Christmas Dinner returns in 2022 - after a shortened run due to Covid in 2021 - having picked up 5 Irish Times Theatre Award nominations.
In this meditation on togetherness and separation, birth, death, and renewal, we visit successive generations of the Bayard family at their Christmas dinner table spanning a period of 90 years. This heart-warming family drama happens over a seamless 50 minutes. The Long Christmas Dinner gives us a moment to pause and reflect on our own families, what we hold dear, those we have lost, and what Christmas means for each of us.
Raymond Keane and Sarah Jane Scaife, Directors of The Long Christmas Dinner, said: "Working on this short play was a revelation. At each moment, the ordinary has achieved the status of the extraordinary."
"In The Long Christmas Dinner, the ghosts and story tellers of the past are still at the Christmas table.
It is something that we live through every time we have a special event and somebody's missing," CaitrÃona McLaughlin, Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre.
There will also be a relaxed performance of this production. This means there will be a relaxed approach to noise during the show; house lights are kept on, rather than turned off; sound and light effects are disclosed in advance; - all supports designed to make a more inclusive theatre experience and help people with autism, intellectual, neurological and/or sensory differences enjoy the show. Audience members are also free to move about or leave the auditorium as they need.
Some of Ireland's best-loved talents reunite to present this joyous Christmas celebration - the cast includes Rachael Dowling, Máire Nà Ghráinne, Bryan Burroughs, Emmet Byrne, Rachel O'Byrne, Will O'Connell, Liam Bixby, Fionnuala Gygax and Fiona Lucia McGarry with new additions in Benjamin Reilly and Una Nà BhrÃain.
More Hot Stories For You

January 26, 2023
The Everyman has launched its spring season, starring renowned writers, award-winning shows, and fan favourites. The featured production sees Reggie from the Blackrock Road return to The Everyman stage with a 12-performance run of his new show, Reggie's Guide to Social Climbing. Produced by The Everyman, this world premiere sees the millionaire acting as mentor to Ireland's nouveau riche, providing guidance on how to eat, drink, flirt, and behave like a member of Cork's One Per Cent. Â

January 25, 2023
The Abbey Theatre has announced the world premieres of two new plays, from Irish playwrights Deirdre Kinahan and Mark O'Rowe. Appearing on the stages of Ireland's national theatre in Spring 2023, An Old Song, Half Forgotten by Deirdre Kinahan and Mark O'Rowe's adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen classic Ghosts, will both open in April.Â

January 25, 2023
Dance Cork Firkin Crane springs into 2023 with a packed programme of performances, residencies, classes, and workshops. Running from January–July 2023, the programme presents artists from all over Ireland and international artists from the USA, Spain, France, Scotland, The Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland.

January 24, 2023
David Gilna's 'A Bolt From D'Blue' will be presented at The Viking Theatre for a three week run from the 31st January - February 18th 2023.

January 23, 2023
Irish National Opera has assembled a stellar team for its first-ever production of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, the composer's greatest comic opera. Donizetti composed the work in 1842, during a decade in which his popularity was so great that one in every four opera performances in Italy was of a work by him.