Literature

Kevin Barry: The Heart in Winter – Live Reading

The ICC is once again, for the second year, delighted to be working in Partnership with The National Poetry Library and The Southbank Centre to present this very special event…  

Join us for a staged, abridged reading of Kevin Barry’s new novel, featuring actors Éanna Hardwicke and Faoileann Cunningham, and live music from Larry Beau.

Age guidance: For ages 16+

Location: Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

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Sat 02 November 2024

Starts: 7.45pm

Tickets: Standard entry from £15. Concessions 25% off

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Butte, Montana, October 1891, and a hard winter approaches across the Rocky Mountains. The city is rich in copper mines and rampant with vice and debauchery among a hard-living crowd of immigrant Irish workers.

Here we find Tom Rourke, a young poet and ballad-maker of the town, but also a doper, a drinker, and a fearsome degenerate. Just as he feels his life is heading nowhere fast, Polly Gillespie arrives in town as the new bride of the extremely devout mine captain Long Anthony Harrington.

A thunderbolt love affair takes spark between Tom and Polly and they strike out west on a stolen horse.

Join their journey through Montana and Idaho in this exclusive live reading, with narration from Kevin Barry himself.

Kevin Barry is the author of four novels and three story collections. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Lannan Foundation Literary Award. His novel Night Boat to Tangier, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and named one of the ‘Top Ten Books of the Year’ by the New York Times.

Larry Beau is an Irish songwriter, whistler and troubadour. Based in Kerry, his forthcoming album is a collection of original journeyman songs written on his travels in Europe, Ireland and the USA over the past ten years. He has collaborated frequently with authors, playwrights and actors.

Éanna Hardwicke’s most recent credits include The Cherry Orchard at the Donmar Warehouse, The Doll Factory for Paramount+, and the BBC1 drama The Sixth Commandment. Hardwicke also played the lead role of Cian in Lakelands and the part of Rob in Normal People.

Faoileann Cunningham has played Ryl in The Witcher: Blood Origin for Netflix and has performed in multiple stage productions, including the Olivier Award-nominated production of Amelie, Once and Private Lives.

Presented in partnership between the Irish Cultural Centre and the Southbank Centre.

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