Deirdre Kinahan's provocative new play The Saviour comes to this year's Dublin Theatre Festival, charting an extraordinary shift in Ireland’s social, political and religious life, with a cast that includes legendary Irish actress Marie Mullen and Jamie O'Neill.
Deirdre offers some thoughts on The Saviour below.
I just can't wait to get this play in front of a 'live’ Irish audience. I can hear them laugh, I can see them rock, I can feel them hurt because this is their story, our story - Máire, so magnificently played by Marie Mullen, in all her beauty, all her failings, all her rage and all her humour is one of us.
I started dreaming this play the year of the Repeal Referendum when Ireland seemed to turn a corner. I had a stake in the game. I was thrilled by the result. I was thrilled by this new progressive, kind and confident Ireland… but I was aware of the debris.
I was aware of those around me who felt like they had lost something, who lived their lives by a different set of rules to me, who clung to a particularly Irish Catholic Caliphate.And I thought, ‘what is that like?’.
Máire’s story is inspired by truth. Her vulnerability is real.Her blind faith is her armour.Her trauma is ours.When we meet her and her son Mel, brilliantly realised by Jamie O’Neill, we walk into their grace and their anger, their struggle amidst the debris.
In 2021 in the world of Covid, we had to abandon plans for production of The Saviour and do a version online. Theatre on screen was a comfort at that time, but nothing compares to sitting in an audience and laughing, gasping, feeling in that magical communal way.
In 2023, the valiant Landmark invited myself and the extraordinary director Louise Lowe back into rehearsal for a full production with Marie and Jamie… O My Heart! We then had the privilege of premiering The Saviour in New York at The Irish Repetory Theatre to great gasps, shock, laughter and critical acclaim but now, finally, we are coming home.
We will play at The Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire from September 27th to October 4th and I just can’t wait to feel an Irish audience embrace Máire, forgive Máire and perhaps hope a little for Máire and her beleagured son.
See you there!
The Saviour is at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, from 27 Sept – 8 October 2023 as part of Dublin Theatre Festival - find out more here.
