This year's Dublin Theatre Festival programme reflects with many contemporary topics - but also reaches beyond, to a poetic enquiry about the times we live in. Over three weeks performances include 10 World Premieres, reimagined classic texts, inspiring international projects from Australia, Belgium Estonia, Portugal, Sweden, the UK and the USA, and an expanded season of Theatre for Children.
Tennessee Williams in his essay 'The Catastrophe of Success' paints a poignant picture of his life following the startling success of his play The Glass Menagerie. He confides: “I was not aware of how much vital energy had gone into this struggle until the struggle was removed.” Seven decades later Williams' masterpiece remains a staple in American schools and continues to profoundly move audiences. In this “memory play” the Wingfields, a disenchanted St. Louis family, depict an alternative reality to their dull, dispiriting lives. The son and narrator, Tom Wingfield (Marty Rea) escapes to a brighter envisioned future, his mother Amanda (Samantha Bond) reaches into her glorious past in an attempt to fashion a similar reality for her daughter, and his painfully shy sister Laura (Zara Devlin) reluctantly emerges from the blissful world of her glass menagerie to entertain the possibility of love. Jim O'Conner (Frank Blake), the gentleman caller, appears in Act 2 oblivious of the complex family dynamics.
Imagine your absolute favorite story. Swap the protagonist for a bicycle-averse sergeant, an amiable but soused philosopher, a fellow tippler a few shillings short of a pound and a publican with a brain that should be pickled for posterity. Scour the stage for 4 exceptional Irish actors to narrate the tale and then assemble them in the one location in Ireland where the finest stories are exchanged - a public house. Furnish them with one of Ireland's savviest wordsmiths and the result is unquestionably a treat.
Today the Abbey Theatre announces the full programme for the Avolon Winter Season 2018, comprising five productions across both the Abbey and Peacock Stages.
In a desolate land lies a stone, shaped by waiting for who knows how long to a stool. A sad dying tree with three branches undulates. And a dry tableau of firmament that matches the sky sets the stage for director Garry Haynes' Ireland's Druid Theater production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot at Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. The production excels at finding the humor in the mundane; it pierces with a gracious, poignant truth of friendship. Haynes mines the piece for its quiet moments and visceral existential angst and vaudeville farce. She firmly redefines our notion of tragic daily rituals while finding the necessary, vital humor.
Theater heaven. A rare occurrence when every component of a production converges in perfect harmony to create a tour de force. Druid Theatre Company have accomplished this with their current production of Richard III. Adding pizzazz, Opening Night was attended by a fine complement of glitterati from Irish radio, theater, and screen.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2018 White Light Festival, which will run October 16 through November 18. The multidisciplinary festival will feature events presented in six venues across the city, including world, U.S., and New York premieres. The ninth annual international festival will explore transcendence, interior illumination, and the communal impulse as exhibited through artistic expression across continents and centuries.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2018 White Light Festival, which will run October 16 through November 18. The multidisciplinary festival will feature events presented in six venues across the city, including world, U.S., and New York premieres. The ninth annual international festival will explore transcendence, interior illumination, and the communal impulse as exhibited through artistic expression across continents and centuries.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater welcomes back Ireland's Druid theatre company-"one of the world's greatest acting ensembles" (The Guardian)-with its critically acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's masterpiece, Waiting for Godot. Staged by Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes, the production will be presented for a limited engagement in the Courtyard Theater as part of WorldStage at Chicago Shakespeare, May 23-June 3, 2018.
It seemed like a clever in-joke when the first lobby announcement at the Shakespeare Theatre Company began, 'We appreciate your patience...'
One of the great things about DC theatre is that we have the opportunities to experience theater from all over the world, including from some of the most artistically renowned companies. Take for example the Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland. Today's subject Garry Hynes is living her theatre life as Artistic Director of that esteemed company. The Druid's production of Waiting for Godot is embarking on its year-long tour with a run at Shakespeare Theatre Company through May 20.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater welcomes back Ireland's Druid theatre company-"one of the world's greatest acting ensembles" (The Guardian)-with its critically acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's masterpiece, Waiting for Godot. Staged by Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes, the production will be presented for a limited engagement in the Courtyard Theater as part of WorldStage at Chicago Shakespeare, May 23-June 3, 2018.
Druid returns to the Everyman from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th March with its critically acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's masterpiece Waiting for Godot, featuring a stellar cast: Garrett Lombard, Aaron Monaghan, Rory Nolan and Marty Rea.
Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will host Druid, Ireland's most celebrated theatre company, and their critically acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot. Directed by Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes, Druid's production of Samuel Beckett's absurd, anarchic masterpiece will make its regional premiere at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street, NW) from April 17 through May 20, 2018 before it travels on to Chicago.
A stark exploration of inheritance, home, and the legacy of Ireland's post-Famine mindset, Eugene McCabe's unsettling, overlooked King of the Castle is imaginatively revived in Druid Theatre's production.
ArtsEmerson presents the Druid Theatre Company production of Martin McDonagh's THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, directed by Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes and featuring Tony Award-winner Marie Mullen. Rounding out the stellar cast are Aisling O' Sullivan, Marty Rea, and Aaron Monaghan. This is a powerful piece of theater that should not be missed.
Druid Theatre will remount Martin McDonagh's sensational, award-winning dark comedy, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, at BAM's Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St.) this winter.
Druid Theatre will remount Martin McDonagh's sensational, award-winning dark comedy, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, at BAM's Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St.) this winter.
Center Theatre Group opened the Druid production of 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' this week. See all the fabulous photos from the event below.
For the most part, brilliantly written classic plays make their locale the main character of the piece. Think of Tennessee Williams. All of his plays take place in the American South; poverty-stricken New Orleans sets the background for Streetcar among other plays. In Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane, the small town of Leenane in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland not only displays the frequent rainy, dismal atmosphere for Mag Folan (Marie Mullen) and daughter Maureen (Aisling O'Sullivan), but it sets the lugubrious tone of isolation that cripples and destroys them. Now on the Taper stage through December 18 the Druid Company of Galway who originated the play in 1996, which went on to win four Tonys on Broadway in 1998, presents a stark portrait that lingers in the mind long after one leaves the theatre.
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