And there's no dark like a winter night in the country. And there was a wind like this one tonight, howling and whistling in off the sea. You hear it under the door and it's like someone singing. Singing in under the door at you. It was this type of night now. Am I setting the scene for you?
The tallest tales reveal the deepest truths.
We already know The Weir is a masterpiece, of course. After several extensions to its inaugural run for the Royal Court’s smaller space (temporarily housed at the Ambassadors Theatre at the time), it transferred to the West End and ran for two years. But this production, almost 30 years on, is quite perfect. And if its three-month run doesn’t extend, it’ll surely be because the stage can’t hold Gleeson hostage from the screen for any longer.
The headline star is Brendan Gleeson but The Weir is an ensemble: its characters are on different frequencies yet see each other for who they are. That goes for the locals as well as a stranger like Valerie, relocating from Dublin as a “blow-in” while literal gales whistle outside in Gregory Clarke’s sound design. Her arrival prompts a troubling exchange of tall tales, dreams, memories and confessions but McPherson judiciously uses humour to clear the air between them. Much like a weir, the effect is simultaneously of free flow and stillness.
| 1999 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2013 | Off-Broadway |
Irish Repertory Theatre Production Off-Broadway |
| 2014 | West End |
West End Revival Production West End |
| 2015 | Off-Broadway |
Irish Repertory Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
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