Gerard McSorley is performing at An Grianán Theatre this weekend.
AN Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny will pay tribute to the Field Day Theatre Company with two play readings as part of the closing weekend of this year’s Earagail Arts Festival.
As a nod to the forthcoming Derry City of Culture, An Grianán will pay tribute to the well-known company by presenting staged readings of two classic plays from the Field Day canon – Thomas Kilroy’s Double Cross and Tom Paulin’s The Riot Act.
Double Cross is a spellbinding examination of the riddle of nationalism, while Tom Paulin’s The Riot Act revisits an ancient Greek tragedy to illustrate the Northern Irish situation in Thatcher’s days.
These staged readings will be directed by Abbey Theatre Associate Director Jimmy Fay and performed by an ensemble led by renowned actors Declan Conlon, Catherine Walker and Gerard McSorley.
The cast of actors will also include Donegal talent including Charlie Bonner and Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhrigde. The Field Day Theatre Company began in 1980 as collaboration between renowned Donegal based playwright Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea.
The duo produced a new Friel play, Translations, in Derry, in the hope of establishing a major theatre company for Northern Ireland. Joining them in the project was a quartet of writers: Seamus Heaney, Tom Paulin, Seamus Deane and the late David Hammond.
Over the next decade, Field Day became a major creative force in Irish culture, commissioning and touring a number of major new plays, and establishing a publishing wing, which continues to this day.
This unique event takes place at An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny over a single day, Saturday July 21; the readings can be attended separately, with a special ticket price covering both events.
For more information call the festival box office on Tel 07491 20777.