“Sean O’Casey: Inishfallen Fare Thee Well” followed by a Q&A
A powerful one-man play on the life of Seán O’Casey, performed by Ronan Wilmot.
In 1958, the Dublin Theatre Festival was cancelled after pressure from Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. The cause? Seán O’Casey’s final play, The Drums of Father Ned, was deemed blasphemous. In solidarity, Samuel Beckett withdrew his own work, and a play based on Joyce’s Ulysses was also pulled — silencing the entire festival.
From this moment of censorship, O’Casey, now 78, looks back on his life — from growing up in a Dorset Street tenement to the political and artistic upheavals that shaped Ireland and his voice as its greatest socialist writer.
Written by Eddie Naughton and first performed at The New Theatre, Dublin, Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well was later staged at Áras an Uachtaráin for President Michael D. Higgins.
Renowned actor Ronan Wilmot brings O’Casey’s voice to life in this deeply human and timely portrait of the artist as an older man.
following this show the actor Ronan Wilmot will take questions from the audience
Sat- Doors: 7.30pm; Starts: 8pm | Sun- Doors: 7pm; Starts: 7.30pm
Tickets: £15/£13 (concessions)
About Ronan Wilmot
Ronan Wilmot is an acclaimed 82-year-old Irish actor and director.
He has performed with many of Ireland’s leading theatres, including The Abbey Theatre, The Gate Theatre, The Project Arts Centre, and The Focus Theatre, where he worked with its founder, Deirdre O’Connell.
In the UK, Ronan has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as The Royal Court Theatre, The Young Vic, The Liverpool Playhouse, and the 7:84 Theatre Company.
Film credits include:
In The Name of the Father and The Field (both directed by Jim Sheridan), as well as The Snapper and The Van (written by Roddy Doyle).
As a director, his credits include:
– Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot, co-directed with Cicely Berry CBE at Christ Church Cathedral in 1992, during Dublin’s tenure as European City of Culture
– Stags and Hens by Willy Russell, at The Focus Theatre
– The Hostage and The Quare Fella by Brendan Behan
– Nora and Jim by Nora Connolly, which enjoyed two sell-out runs at the Irish Cultural Centre and toured internationally
