IRELAND 100: The Plough and the Stars (Abbey Theatre)

IRELAND 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture
Abbey Theatre
The Plough and the Stars (US Premiere)
Written by Sean O'Casey
Directed by Sean Holmes

"Director Sean Holmes places Sean O'Casey's anti-war polemical play in present day Dublin,
bringing a sharp, contemporary resonance and relevance to this 1926 classic"
– The Irish Independent

"Actors are [the] stars of a Plough recast with modern twists, rock music and more laughs."
– The Irish Mail

"…the highest praise goes to O'Casey's timeless writing and Holmes's brave outsider approach."
– The Sunday Times

The Plough and the Stars was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1926. Now regarded as a masterpiece, it is one of the plays most closely associated with the Abbey Theatre. Set amid the tumult of the 1916 Rising in while freshly staged in the present day, The Plough and the Stars is the story of ordinary lives ripped apart in the idealism of the time.

The residents of a Dublin tenement shelter from the violence that sweeps through the city's streets. A revolution that will shape the country's future rages around them. What kind of Ireland awaits them?

The Abbey Theatre was founded as Ireland's national theater by W.B Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory in 1904 "to bring upon the stage the deeper emotions of Ireland." Today, the Abbey produces an annual program of diverse, engaging, innovative Irish and international theater and invests in and promotes new Irish writers and artists.

In 2016, the Abbey Theatre presents its 57th production of this rich play. You are invited to see this play afresh in a bold new production directed by Olivier Award winner Sean Holmes, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith in London.

Produced by the Abbey Theatre in association with Cusack Projects Limited.

Performance Timing: Approximately2-1/2 hours, including one intermission