Cork Midsummer Festival has announced the first production for their 2025 event, bringing one of the city's most acclaimed actors back to the city for a single marathon performance of a 24-hour long play.
The Second Woman will star Eileen Walsh in a durational theatre piece inspired by writer and director John Cassavetes' cult 1977 film Opening Night.
Over the duration of 24 hours, 100 different men will star opposite Cork-born Walsh, as she performs over and over a dramatic scene between a man and a woman in a troubled relationship.
While Walsh's character has scripted lines, the other performers are free to improvise.
None of the 100 men will have rehearsed with Eileen Walsh prior to the performance of The Second Woman, and most of whom are non-actors.
Announcing 'The Second Woman' starring Eileen Walsh for Cork Midsummer Festival 2025: an unmissable 24-hour theatrical marathon - tickets are on sale now! https://t.co/nkVCTXssFL pic.twitter.com/J6toZHqtB9
— Cork Midsummer Festival (@CorkMidsummer) January 30, 2025
The production will be created by an all-female team who capture and mix the action onstage live from five simultaneously recording cameras.
It was created by Australian theatre-makers Anna Breckon and Nat Randall, who will also direct the show in Cork.
The Second Woman received its European premiere in London in 2023 with actor Ruth Wilson, winning rave reviews for what one critic described as 'a mesmerising feat of endurance'.
This Irish premiere will be produced by Cork Midsummer Festival and Cork Opera House.
Since her theatre debut in the original production of Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs in 1996, Eileen Walsh has won accolades on theatre stages across the world, as well as in celebrated works for screen like The Magdalene Sisters, Pure Mule, Catastrophe and Small Things Like These.
"Show me an actor that doesn't love Cassevettes or adore Gena Rowlands," said Walsh, who next appears onscreen in Chris O'Dowd's new Sky TV series Small Town, Big Story. "I like to turn people on. And that’s what theatre is, sex."
The Second Woman will unfold at Cork Opera House as part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2025 for one performance only, from 4pm on 14 June to 4pm on 15 June - find out more here.
