In unveiling the second part of the Abbey’s programme for the year, artistic-directors, Neil Murray and Graham McLaren, revealed the welcome news that the Peacock stage will be in constant use throughout 2017.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Arena, Neil Murray highlighted how the Peacock will play host to twenty shows and seven works-in-development, starting with Pat Kinevane’s trilogy of plays at the end of March. Murray also addressed the ongoing criticism levelled at the Peacock in recent years for the stage’s relative lack of shows, while indicating that this is set to change.
Listen: Neil Murray talks to RTÉ Arena:
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“I think this is sometimes a little unfair. It hasn’t been in full motion, that’s for sure. But over the last year Cyprus Avenue was on there and Town is Dead amongst other shows. So there has been activity there, but what we wanted to do this year was to have it in constant motion, if we could. We have talked with a load of people in the community, primarily in Ireland but also a bit from beyond.
“So from the end of March really, the space is in full use with a mixture of self-produced work, some presented work and also a whole series of development weeks for artists and companies to come in and develop new ideas without the pressure of a show at the end of it necessarily.
“That’s allowed us to put 27 projects in the space, so from the end of March through December we have something on pretty much every week and every night.”
This full schedule starts with Pat Kinevane’s Olivier award winning series of plays; it will be the first time audiences have the chance to see the trilogy back-to-back. There will also be a revival of Mark O’Rowe’s play Crestfall, in a new production by Druid.
“We wanted to invite artists and shows that we’d seen and really loved that hadn’t been over-exposed," says Murray. "Pat’s trilogy for example, whilst the shows have been seen before, they’ve never been seen night after night after night - where you literally see all three in the same week. Pat has never done that in Dublin.”
“I suppose there is an element of us indulging ourselves with some Irish greatest hits and artists we really want to work with.”
The brand new work will come from Stacey Gregg (Josephine K. and the Algorithms), Owen McCafferty (Fire Below) and Dead Centre (Hamnet) and these will be staged in the Peacock during the Dublin Theatre Festival and the Dublin Dance Festival, alongside international imports from Syria, Canada and Scotland. As part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, Irish writer Simon Doyle will deliver a West Kerry-based take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest entitled The Shitstorm, which will be directed by Maeve Stone.
The lights are back on at the Peacock; let’s hope this small space shows the way for innovative theatre in this country for a decent time to come.
Find the full list of the Abbey's programme for 2017, with everything due to run on both the Peacock and the Main Stage, on their website now.
