“The Loved Ones” seems to open with a rather accessible setup. Gabby, a young Black college student, arrives at Nell’s house with suitcase and backpack in tow. Her arrival is unexpected and unannounced. She announces that she is in her seventh month of pregnancy and that Nell’s son Robin, who has been deceased for six months, is the father. Gabby…
Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciarán O’Reilly, Producing Artistic Director) announced today four productions for its 2026 Fall Season. Irish Rep’s 2026 Fall Season will kick off September 25 on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage with Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape directed by Ciarán O’Reilly (Ulster American), opening October 4 for a run through November 15. The…
The latest offering at the Vineyard Theatre is “Bughouse,” conceived and directed by Martha Clarke, with a script adapted from the writings of Henry Darger, by Beth Henley. For those who are not familiar with the subject matter, Henry Darger was a prolific visual artist and epic novelist. He had a troubled childhood, losing his mother when he was 4…
“You could be dead tomorrow,” young Dave (Daniel Marconi) tells his army buddy Bobby (Harrison Tipping) during a night out in 1979 Belfast, justifying their reckless behavior. “Live in the moment.” Thirty-five years later, after Bobby’s murder, that moment has become the only moment that matters—an endless present tense of guilt, rage, and impossible choices. Leo McGann’s “The Honey Trap,”…
Loving Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner is easy. Making an audience care about them theatrically? That is the challenge “Gene & Gilda” never manages to meet. Any play about such strong and well-known characters must earn that emotional investment through good writing, strong performances, and compelling staging, regardless of how much audiences might adore Gene and Gilda in real life….
The characters in Conor McPherson’s “The Weir,” currently running at the Irish Repertory Theatre, tell ghost stories and stories of the supernatural to newcomer Valerie (Sarah Street) at the local bar in Northern Ireland owned by Brendan (Johnny Hopkins). Before Valerie’s arrival with Finbar, Jack (Dan Butler), Jim (John Keating), and Brendan chat about the weather, selling Brendan’s bar, and…
The new play by Matthew Lombardo titled “Conversations with Mother” now playing Off-Broadway at Theatre 555, is a lighthearted and comical evening of entertainment, mostly due to the extremely talented cast. This eighty-five minute two-hander stars Caroline Aaron and Matt Doyle, who make use of their perfect timing and comedic skills to bring as many laughs as possible to the…
In Nancy Harris’s “The Beacon,” currently on at the Irish Repertory Theatre, four characters navigate through life’s rough waters. Three make it. One is still lost at sea. The back wall of Beiv’s (Kate Mulgrew) cottage on an island off the coast of West Cork is made almost entirely of glass and looks out onto the Atlantic Ocean. Angst and…
Language and translation serve as powerful tropes for colonial ownership in Brian Friel’s “Translations” currently playing at Irish Repertory Company through Sunday. December 31, 2023. Headmaster Hugh (Sean McGinley) of the hedge-school in the townland of Baile Beag/Balleybeg the Irish-speaking community in County Donegal and his eldest son Manus (Owen Campbell) teach Irish, Latin and Greek to the local students….
New York theater goers know Marie Mullen from her performance in “The Cripple of Inishmaan” as Billy Claven’s Aunt Kate who talks to stones, and from her performance in “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” as Meg who is desperate to escape from her tyrannical mother. Mullen returns to the New York Stage to play Maire the “Monster Irish Mother” in…