Welcome

There are a total of 25 plays listed here, produced over the period 1989 to 2011.

I've been exploring different territory for the last few years, including several attempts at writing a novel, a bit more satisfaction in writing for television, and a long and intimate engagement with a subject which I call Storytelling and the Five Stages of Change.

The Lost Prince (2011)

I went out to Callan in August 2009 to see the 10th birthday celebrations for KCAT.  Medb Lambert put chat on me, and in no time I was in the Friary, running around the space with the Equinox actors, with a towel, or a box, or a paper bag on my head, or sometimes all three.
Independence and autonomy were the themes we worked on, and many and varied were the ways we worked.
There is a great (as in sensitive) review by Patrick Brennan at http://www.irishtheatremagazine.ie/Reviews/Current/The-Lost-Prince

The article includes some lovely production stills.

Poster above is by Steve Aylin

Casa Lisa (2010)

This was my third play for the final-year students at The Gaiety School of Acting.
Patrick Sutton ran the operation during the devising phase, then he passed the baton to Liam Halligan to direct the show.
Liam has some production stills on his website: http://www.liamhalligan.ie/
The story-lines that I discovered for the characters are a confirmation that you can hear a lot more than is said if you have the ears to listen.

Buck Jones and the Body Snatchers (2008)

Buck Jones again, in 1798, a year after the events of Galloping Buck Jones, and nearly 30 years before the 1829 business with Red Willie, although written 5 years later...  It's complicated. 

This is the poster image, taken by Trevor Hart, with Paul Meade and Roisin Gribbin in the grounds of St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, by kind permission of Dean Norman Lynas.

The credits are on http://www.irishplayography.com/ .  The play started its life as a piece for the stage, then Joan Sheehy did some work in The Georgian House, and the idea sprang up of staging the play as a promenade piece: a joy, it was.

I kept a kind of production diary at http://bodysnatchers.blogs.ie/.  There are lots of links there to reviews etc, some of which may still be available, but these things do tend to expire or fall into the black hole of the internet; such is cyber-life.

Nominated for the Best Production Award in the 2008 Irish Theatre Awards.  Revived in the Dublin Theatre Festival, at Ionad an Phiarsaigh, in 2009.

This photo is by Don Moloney, taken in the coach-house/garden of The Georgian House, Pery Square, Limerick.

Little Rudolf (2006)

One Christmas, my children received two toy reindeer as presents from a member of the extended family.  So it was that, one evening, as I slaved over the washing-up, and they played with their toys on the dining-room floor, I overheard them enacting a little drama involving Rudolf and his family.  I got to thinking, what would it be like to be the parents of a young reindeer who suddenly developed a really distinctive physical characteristic?  Once I asked myself the question, there was no stopping me; the resonances were too strong to ignore, and Little Rudolf was born.
It is appropriate that the play went back, as 'twere, to a young audience via Barnstorm, but I think it was a lovely thing for everyone who saw it.  I take credit for writing it down, but I think it was probably floating around in the ether for anyone with ears to hear.
The credits are on http://www.irishplayography.com/.

The Hunt for Red Willie (2000)

Long ago, my parents used to make home-brew beer and wine.  One Christmas, someone gave them a book called In Praise of Poteen: here it was that I first met Red Willie, the patron spirit of poteen-makers in Donegal. 
Sometime around 1798, a hideous mask of Austrian origin came to be associated with Red Willie, but that is a story which has yet to be told.  By 1829, the mask had lain dormant for some years, then suddenly it came back into action, and Red Willie stalked the hills. 
Buck Jones became embroiled in the affair, and there was some benefit for him therein.
http://www.irishplayography.com/ has the credits, and the script was published by Methuen as part of the Abbey Theatre series.  I suspect it is this additional exposure, along with the Peacock Stage production, that has given rise to the play's popularity in North America in particular, but part of me also likes to think that there is something about Red Willie himself that likes to roam across the wide open spaces, be they oceans, prairies or great lakes: he's been spotted in Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, Calgary and Burbank, among other places (like Naas and Headford).

The Ballad of Rory Roe (2000)

This was part of A River Through Time, a millennium project organised by Barnstorm in Kilkenny. 
The play was written to be performed in The Burgess Court, a large sloped grassy enclosure in Kells Priory, in County Kilkenny. 
The Ballad of Rory Roe is not listed in the Irish playography website, although the four core actors were professionals, and despite the fact that the whole enterprise was a huge undertaking...  However, there is some information about it on the Barnstorm website: http://www.barnstorm.ie/ .  There was a big community involvement, from all parts of Kilkenny, and it all took place against the backdrop of a "medieval village" which sprang up overnight through the efforts of the citizens of Kells.
The horse-drawn wagon, created by Harry Harris, was the centre-piece of the set, and a joy to behold, what with its folding doors, and integrated balcony ... every home should have one.

I’ll be true, be true to you

By all the stars that shine above.

When I am old, when I am grey

I’ll still be your true love.

I’ll still be your, I'll still be your,

I’ll still be your true love.

Mick Hanley composed the music and tweaked the words of the song for us.