Written and performed by New York–based Irish playwright-actor Suzanna Geraghty, “Auditions, Zoe’s Auditions Part 2” amusingly conveys the desperation of an aspiring actor who wants nothing more than a chance to perform. The cleverly written one-woman show is a winning … Continue reading →

Part of the 1st Irish Theater Festival, sponsored by the Origin Theater Company, “Silent,” which opened on Sunday night, insists that you pay heed to a homeless Dubliner who believes he has become invisible and inaudible. Mr. Kinevane, whose “Forgotten” (seen here … Continue reading →

Not Charles Dickens’s “Hard Times.” Not Studs Terkel’s “Hard Times.” But white and black America’s hard times, in and around the Civil War era’s slum-ridden, crime-ridden Five Points intersection of Downtown Manhattan, near where a soft-spoken, fair-haired, ruddy-complexioned, bespectacled Irish-born singer, … Continue reading →

When the 1st Irish Theatre Festival launched four years ago, everyone was intrigued. Why does New York need an Irish theatre festival, wondered my then-editor at the New York Times. Wasn’t there enough Irish-flavored theatre in New York already?  Not really, not … Continue reading →

Imagine the story of a man destroyed by guilt over his gay brother’s suicide. It’s a simple story, really, though one rich with the detailed imagery and poetic language that Tennessee Williams might have used had he been born an … Continue reading →

Award-winning Cork-born actor/playwright Pat Kinevane has received a hugely favourable review from the New York Tmes’ chief theatre critic Ben Brantley for his play Silent which opened at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan on Sunday night. The powerful one-man play about a homeless man, … Continue reading →

Silent, now playing at the Irish Arts Center, is a one man show exploring the life of Tino McGoldrig.  Written and performed by Pat Kinevane, it has a unique tone, wistful and lyrical where many would be self-pitying.   Silent comes to … Continue reading →

  Pat Kinevane delivers an exquisitely detailed physical performance in this solo show about a homeless alcoholic in Ireland…Presented by Fishamble as part of the 1st Irish festival, this rambling yet stylishly enacted monologue features sustained stretches in which the … Continue reading →

Mr. Kinevane is a multifaceted performer who understands the astonishing effect of illusion, which can only be achieved with the seamless fusion of word, movement, sound and the moments when he allows silence to breathe, affirming an unequaled isolation. As … Continue reading →

“Just hear me out.” This innocuous phrase, spoken by one young Irishwoman to another, betokens another painful turn of the screw in “Fly Me to the Moon,” a dark comedy written and directed by Marie Jones that opened Tuesday night … Continue reading →

Death provides the fuel for dark comedy plus something deeper in this wee but entertaining two-hander written and directed by Belfast-based Marie Jones, whose “Stones in His Pockets” was on Broadway in 2001. Her new work, part of a festival … Continue reading →

“Fly Me to the Moon,” the new comedy by Marie Jones at 59E59 Theaters in the 1st Irish Festival, is just plain fun. It details the misadventures of two healthcare workers who contemplate an illegal act in order to crawl … Continue reading →

Imagine Lucy Riccardo and Ethel Mertz, or perhaps more appropriately Ab Fab‘s Edina and Patsy, as financially strapped home caregivers, who discover that the 84-year-old man that they’re tending to has unexpectedly passed away in the bathroom….audiences will often find themselves … Continue reading →

Jed Peterson is a soulful, contemplative Stephen Foster who broods over his character’s bereavement at the loss of his creativity and ability to give and receive deep love. Almeria Campbell’s rich understanding of Nelly Blythe brings depth and passion to … Continue reading →

Presented as part of the 1st Irish Festival, the free 6:30 PM panel discussion will center on how “Irish drama, music and literature have impacted America’s business culture from Broadway to Wall Street.”Playwright and novelist McKeon will moderate the discussion … Continue reading →

“Gangs of New York” may have helped to revive the memory of Five Points, the notorious 19th-century slum in Lower Manhattan, but no one probably considered it the stuff of song and dance — until Larry Kirwan, the novelist, playwright … Continue reading →

Loretta and Frances are perfectly opposed as a kind of working-class Belfast Laurel and Hardy. It’s fun to see the penny drop, again and again, on Loretta’s face—and interesting later, when a little role reversal ensues. Now into it, and … Continue reading →

Musicals can be irritating, their manufactured emotion unbearably phony. Larry Kirwan’s “Hard Times,” however, is not just the best of the genre I’ve seen, but truly affecting. The rest of the audience was also demonstrably moved at one of the … Continue reading →

The story feels less compelling than the telling. Direction is in the sure hands of Jim Culleton from Dublin’s Fishamble, back in New York with a bang for the annual 1stIrish Theater Festival. Like a stand-up comic, Kinevane dismantles “the … Continue reading →

The 1st Irish Festival, now in its fifth year, is halfway through. Some of the shows have closed, others will be closing next week, and others will begin this week.For details and to buy tickets visitwww.telling-fruit.flywheelsites.com.Here’s our take on what we’ve … Continue reading →

A remarkable piece of pared down theater manages to entertain, inform, move, and comment from a completely original point of view….The sweep and momentum of Jimmy Titanic is born by a single shape-shifting actor (Colin Hamell) who plays some 20 characters including … Continue reading →

“House Strictly Private,” by Jimmy Kerr, was my favorite of the festival shows seen. It combined a dramatic tale and compelling characters with the performing talent witnessed in other 1st Irish hits: “Fly Me to the Moon” (reviewed in the Sept. … Continue reading →

They might not have boldly gone where no playwright has ever gone before, but the four writers whose plays went up last week as part of the “next generation”of Irish playwrights in the 1st Irish Theatre Festival created pieces that … Continue reading →

Two Irish playwrights emerged from the recent 1st Irish Theatre Festival in New York, and it’s time to mark their achievements. House Strictly Private, a pitch-black comic drama, is an unexpected follow up to Kerr’s rollicking festival debut…For Love, by debut … Continue reading →