Home / What's On / July / The O'Neill / Press Release 6 April 07
Press Release
The O’Neill
Director in search of his cast…is it you?
Do not miss your chance to be part of the opening production of this year’s Earagail Arts Festival.
As part of the Flight of the Earls commemoration An Grianán Theatre, with the support of Donegal County Council Cultural Services and the Earagail Arts Festival, are producing The O’Neill by Thomas Kilroy. This play was last produced by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1969. Its revival in 2007 will make it part of the extensive year long programme of events scheduled for the 400th anniversary.
The production will be directed by David Grant, who has enjoyed a varied career in theatre throughout Ireland. He has been Managing Editor of Theatre Ireland magazine, Programme Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival and Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast and has directed more than a hundred theatre productions ranging from Shakespeare to new and devised work. Currently he is the Head of Drama at Queen's University, Belfast.
Can you see yourself playing the role of Hugh O’Neill, the Great Earl or maybe his young romantic wife Mabel Bagenal?
What about Lord Mountfort or Sir Robert Cecil?
If so drop in to An Grianán Theatre on Saturday, 21 st or Sunday, 22 nd April between 1.30pm – 4pm.
You do not need to prepare a piece for this meeting. It will be an opportunity to read from the text and learn more about the project.
This action packed production centres on the conflicted figure of Hugh O’Neill. It is set before, during and after the Battle of Yellow Ford and details both the private and political life of O’Neill. A man who understood Elizabethan England equally as well as the ancient Gaelic world and found himself torn between them both.
The author of ‘The O’Neill’, Thomas Kilroy was born in Callan, Co Kilkenny in 1934 and now lives in Co. Mayo. He served as play editor at the Abbey Theatre in 1977 and was appointed Director of Field Day Theatre Company in 1988. Kilroy was Professor of English at UCG and in 1989, he resigned his professorship, to concentrate fully on writing. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature, the Irish Academy of Letters and Aosdana. His novel, The Big Chapel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Heinemann Award.
Thomas Kilroy, was deservedly recognized for his 'Lifetime Achievement' in the Irish Times / ESB Theatre Awards 2004.
If you require any further details about this project please contact Martina Murphy by e-mailing angrianan@eircom.net or phoning 074 9123288.
For more about the official commemorations of the Flight of the Earls please visit the official website:
http://www.flightoftheearls.ie/
Flight of the Earls 400 is part of the national celebration of Shared Histories organised under the aegis of the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |