Cast Announced for PORTIA COUGHLAN at Old Red Lion Theatre

Aria Entertainment's Katy Lipson is taking over the Old Red Lion this May to present a revival of the renowned Portia Coughlan; a ferocious, haunting and beautiful Irish tale by Marina Carr, writer of By The Bog of Cats, The Mai and Ullaloo.

Starring as the haunted Portia Coughlan will be Susan Stanley (The Separation dir. Simon Evans, Almost Maine dir. Simon Evans, Confessions of a Scallywag dir. Sarah Berger. She also won the Best Actress Award at the Malaga Film Festival 2013 for her role in new film Hotel Amenities).

Ben Mulhern (Shawshank Redemption dir. Peter Sheridan, Bad Faith by O.J Ryan and the Eugene O' Brien play Eden, soon to be staged in London) will return to the role of Raphael Coughlan. Mulhern previously played Raphael in a 2009 production directed by Aoife Connolly in which he skilfully demonstrated the tenderness, and touching - yet ultimately destructive - honesty between man and wife (Irish Theatre Magazine).

Also starring will be: Alan Devally as Damus - Where The White Stops dir. Nasi Voustas, Enduring Song (Southwark Playhouse), In Bound (UK Tour and Southwark Playhouse); Conan Sweeny as Fintan - Translations dir. Adrian Dunbar, Death and Nightingales (Lyric Belfast), Woman on the Verge (Andrew's Lane, Belfast); Karen Cogan as Stacia - The Only True History of Lizzie Fin (Southwark Playhouse), Playboy Of The Western World (The Old Vic), BBC Television series Waking the Dead; Anne Kent as Blaize - Cleaners (Axis Theatre), Waiting for Elvis (Axis Theatre), Hen Night Epiphany (National Tour); Veronica Quilligan as Maggie May - The Way Of The World, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest (Theatre Royal Stratford East), A Lesson in Blood and Roses (Royal Shakespeare Company); James Holmes as Senchill - Making Stalin Laugh (JW3), Rain Man (English Theatre Frankfurt), Potholes (Theatre503); Susan Cummins as Marianne - Walking Through Wire, Bright Colours Only, Bafta Nominated Short film 14; Chris Dunne as Sly - Molly Sweeney dir. Gregory Thompson, The Girl With Red Hair dir. Mike Bradwell, Baby Jeannie dir. Jim O'Hanlon; and Keith Ramsay as Gabriel - Julius Caesar and Doctor Scroggy's War (Shakespeare's Globe), Billy (Union Theatre).

Portia Coughlan lives in a monstrous limbo, haunted by a yearning for her spectral twin brother lying at the bottom of the Belmont River, unable to find any love for her wealthy husband and children, seeking solace in soulless affairs, deeply afraid of what she might do. Written to celebrate the centenary of Dublin's National Maternity Hospital, Portia Coughlan packs a hell of a punch. It hurts to look at it. But it has to be seen (Irish Independent). Last performed at The Royal Court Theatre in 1996, this exciting revival at the Old Red Lion is directed by Bronagh Lagan - Rags-in concert (West End), Girlfriends (Union Theatre), Henry VI Part 1 (Rose theatre).

Portia Coughlan is part of a double-bill at the Old Red Lion with the world premiere of new musical The Verb, 'To Love'.

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