Below are details of our recent Outings
2013
PEOPLE
Screened as part of NT Live in the IFI on 21st March at 6.45pm
Award-winning writer Alan Bennett is reunited with director Nicholas Hytner and Olivier Award-winning actress Frances de la Tour, with whom he worked on The History Boys and the Habit of Art.
Alan Bennett is one of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, and the much anticipated People is the sixth of his plays to have its premiere at the National Theatre. Following its original run at the National Theatre, The History Boys transferred to Broadway, winning the Tony Award for Best Play in 2006, and toured internationally before being turned into a film, again directed by Nicholas Hytner and with a cast including Frances de la Tour. This was a screening of a live performance from the National Theatre in London to the Irish Film Institute screens.
TINY PLAYS FOR IRELAND 2
Project Arts Centre (Space Upstairs) on 28th March at 8.00pm
Following the sell-out run of Tiny Plays for Ireland in 2012 Fishamble returns with a new production of 25 more tiny plays in 2013. Playwrights include Maeve Binchy, Colum McCann, Pauline McLynn, Tom Swift and members of the public chosen from over 1,700 submissions!
This highly theatrical production, staged in-the-round, offers vivid glimpses of contemporary Ireland as seen through a range of perspectives. A cast of five actors play over 50 roles in this 95 minute production.
THE DEAD
Abbey Theatre, December 6, 7.30pm
The Dead, the short story from James Joyce's "Dubliners", was dramatised for the Abbey Stage by one of Ireland's most important playwrights, Frank McGuinness. With a stellar cast including Rosaleen Linehan, Anita Reeves, Derbhle Crotty and Lorcan Cranitch, this wonderful performance tells the hauntingly beautiful tale of 1904 Dublin.
Gretta and Gabriel Conroy attend the Morkan Sisters' annual dinner on the Feast of the Epiphany and the last day of Christmas. An evening of laughter, music and dance ends in an epiphany for Gabriel. This world premiere was directed by Joe Dowling, former Director of the Abbey Theatre and current Artistic Director of The Guthrie Theatre, America, with music composition by Conor Linehan.
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
Gate Theatre, June 20, 7.30pm
Winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize, David Mamet's comedy is nonetheless a ruthless play about small-time, cutthroat real estate agents. Behind the suave exteriors are lies, blackmail, scheming and desperation, all in a day's work. This is Mamet's writing at its best, an abrasive attack on American business and a withering depiction of the men whose lives and values are twisted in order to survive.
Director, Doug Hughes has worked extensively on and off Broadway and in theatres throughout in the US, directing over 50 productions at most of the country's leading resident theatres. His is a multi award-winning career, including Tony (Best Director Doubt), Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Callaway awards. In 2005, he was awarded his second Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Direction.
Directed by Doug Hughes
Set Design by Neil Patel
Lighting Design by Michael Chybowski
Costume Design by Joan Bergin
Cast includes: Owen Roe, Peter Hanly, Denis Conway, John Cronin, Patrick Joseph Byrnes, Barry McGovern and Reg Rogers
INTERNATIONAL OUTING 2012
Our annual International Outing for 2012 was to Belfast to visit the new MAC venue opening in April, and the Lyric Theatre which opened in 2011. Both venues are fast becoming epicentres for cultural and theatrical expression in Northern Ireland, and we were delighted to have had the opportunity to take an insider’s look at the work produced, and get exclusive backstage tours of these magnificent new venues.
The MAC’s first season opened with a MAC production, as part of the ni2012 ‘Our Time, Our Place’ celebrations. Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912), by Owen McCafferty, is a courtroom drama full of intrigue, bravery and human frailty.
At 11.40PM on 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, struck an iceberg. At 2.20AM the following morning, the ship sank. 1,517 people died. In response to the disaster the British Government ordered an immediate inquiry and Lord Mersey was appointed Wreck Commissioner. The British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry sat from 2 May to 3 July 1912. It took testimony from 97 witnesses.
A DOLL HOUSE
Smock Alley Theatre, April 19
It’s Christmas and Nora Helmer is going crazy squirreling away presents and decorations, spending the money her husband hasn't yet earned as the new bank manager. But don't worry - Pan Pan’s version of Henrik Ibsen’s modern classic doesn't dwell on the current recession. They're looking at communication, relationships, and social conventions and how we are – first and foremost human beings. After all, people shouldn't always be thinking of themselves, especially women.
IMPROBABLE FREQUENCY
Gaiety Theatre, March 22
Arthur Riordan’s hilarious comedy follows the exploits of British codebreaker Tristram Faraday’s (Peter Hanly) secret mission to 1941 Dublin to investigate suspicious radio broadcasts. Before long, he is drawn into a morass of intrigue and deception that involves overthrowing the British, undermining the Nationalists and subverting the forces of nature.
NT LIVE - THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
IFI, March 1
Directed by Dominic Cooke and starring Lenny Henry, Shakespeare’s furiously paced comedy is staged in a contemporary world into which walk three prohibited foreigners who see everything for the first time.Described by The Times as "Magnificently funny…a modern-urban production full of sharp ideas", this all star show has taken London by storm.
2011
The Cherry Orchard
IFI, Jun 30
Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, directed by NT Associate Director Howard Davies, whose recent productions of Russian plays (including Philistines, Burnt by the Sun and The White Guard) have earned huge critical acclaim, stars Zoë Wanamaker as Madame Ranevskaya.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Gate Theatre, May 11
A wealthy Southern family gathers to celebrate Big Daddys 65th Birthday. He is dying of cancer, which the family decide to hide from him and Big Mama as they try to boost their own cut of the estate. Wife to the alcoholic Brick, the beautiful but desperate Maggie 'the Cat' came from humble beginnings and will go to any lengths to secure what is hers.
No Romance
Peacock Theatre, March 8
No Romance is a tender and funny tale about our secret selves. Rich with the absurdities, hypocrisies and vulnerabilities that course through our lives, it playfully observes the search for connection in a fractured world.
Frankenstein
IFI, March 17
Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker (Jonny Lee Miller). Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature (Benedict Cumberbatch), increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.
God of Carnage
Gate Theatre, February 23 2011
Two sets of parents meet to resolve a conflict between their two children. What is supposed to be a civilised meeting turns into a barrage of name calling, tantrums and tears. In this hysterical comedy when the gloves come off, dirty laundry is aired and the grownups find themselves in their own playground.
NT LIVE
NT live, This exciting initiative, presented by in association with the Irish Film Institute, broadcasts live performances of National Theatre plays onto cinema screens around the world.
FELA!
IFI, Jan 13th 2011
The first outing for Friends of the Dublin Theatre Festival took place in January. The selected and sold-out performance was very well attended by a large coterie of Friends who joined IFI patrons for the NT Live broadcast of ‘Fela!’ a show originally performed in New York. The production was a lively, entertaining and often moving account of the life and times of the late and celebrated Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. The wonderful onstage band, vibrant costumes, energetic dance routines and fusion of a myriad of music styles made for a fascinating and rousing introduction –for me- to this music star. Excellent camera work made individual performances and the overall production so alive, uplifting and impossible not to engage with in a positive manner. This tribute to a most interesting man was strengthened by strong performances by the lead actors and had the added bonus of an interval interview with the show director Bill T. Jones, all in all a worthwhile experience.
Dearbhail Shannon
