An Abbey Theatre production
The Weir
26 November - 14 January 2023
Written by Conor McPherson
Directed by Caitríona McLaughlin
Booking Information
Dates: 26 November – 14 January 2023
On the Abbey stage
Previews: 26, 28 – 29 November
(no performances 24 – 27 December and 1 – 2 January)
Times: Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Sat matinee 2pm
Wed matinee 21 Dec & 4 Jan 2pm
New Year’s Eve 6pm
Tickets: €13 – €45
Running time: 1 hour and 50 minutes (no interval)
Please note: This production contains language that some people might find offensive.
Post-show talks: 8 & 15 Dec, 5 & 12 Jan
Touch Tour: For visually impaired patrons and their companions to explore the set, costumes and props. To book, contact grace.mckiernan@abbeytheatre.ie or call (01) 87 87 222.
Please Note: If you are blind or visually impaired and require a headset for the Audio Description, please contact our Box Office team. You can email us at boxoffice@abbeytheatre.ie or call (01) 87 87 222. Headsets are limited so booking is essential.
Sign language interpreted performance: Thursday 5 January, 7:30pm
Audio-described and captioned performance: Saturday 7 January, 2:00pm
Touch Tour of Stage and Set: Saturday 7 January, 12:00pm
'Fact, fiction, history, ghosts, religion, and hearsay all woven together and I soaked it all up' - Conor McPherson
Gathered at the pub on a windy night in rural Ireland, the landlord and his regulars share old stories with Valerie, a young woman who has recently arrived from Dublin.
At turns ghostly and mesmerising, their tales draw Valerie into their world – but it is her story that stops the men in their tracks.
Written by Olivier award-winning and Tony award-nominated playwright Conor McPherson, who is currently Senior Associate Artist at the Abbey Theatre, The Weir won the Olivier award for Best New Play on its premiere, and has since been staged the world over.
Directed by Caitríona McLaughlin, this major new staging of The Weir promises a spellbinding winter production for the Abbey stage.
Programme
For more information on the show, download the digital programme here.
Post-Show Talks: Changing the Conversation
The Abbey Theatre has initiated a series of post-show discussions on themes emerging from Conor McPherson’s The Weir, which was written in 1997, when Ireland was very different from today. The discussions will focus on the origins of these themes in the play, and broaden out to encompass reflections on their relevance for Ireland in the past and the present.
Changing the Conversation is curated and presented by Catriona Crowe, Curator of First Thought Talks at the Galway International Arts Festival. For full details please click here.
8 December: Death, Grief and the Supernatural: Professor Angela Bourke and Mary Cunniffe examine the place of the supernatural in older Irish societies.
15 December: Loneliness: Maureen Gaffney and Dr Noel Richardson discuss what loneliness does to people in our increasingly digitally connected world.
5 January: Courtship: Dr Caitriona Clear and Róisín Ingle discuss the evolution of courtship. Does courtship by Tinder succeed any better than the older methods?
12 January: Land and Housing: Dr Rory Hearne and Michelle Norris ask why we still have a terrible housing crisis in Ireland, with young people once again emigrating because they cannot afford to live here? How did we get to this point?
Production Images
Images: Ros Kavanagh
Meet the Cast
Brendan Coyle, Peter Coonan, Jolly Abraham, Sean Fox, Marty Rea. Image: Ste Murray
Reviews
★★★★
'Utterly engrossing'
Irish Examiner
★★★★
'Atmospheric portrait of loneliness and community cohesion, featuring outstanding performances... Nothing short of breathtaking'
The Stage
★★★★
'Beautifully directed and performed'
The Arts Review
'McLaughlin does justice to McPherson's elegiac work... superbly layered performances'
Sunday Independent
'A beautifully paced ode to storytelling'
The Irish Mail on Sunday
'The drama lies in personal revelation'
Irish Independent
Audio-described Programme Notes
Download the audio-described programme notes here, or listen to them below.
Credits
- Valerie: Jolly Abraham
- Finbar: Peter Coonan
- Jack: Brendan Coyle
- Brendan: Sean Fox
- Jim: Marty Rea
- Musician: Éamonn Cagney
- Musician: Courtney Cullen
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