HELLO Charlie is a fearless, funny and deeply affecting exploration of trauma, addiction and sisterhood which is coming to An Grianán Theatre later this month.
The play follows sisters Maeve and Kate, who have left their troubled past in Derry behind to build new lives in London. While Kate struggles to keep history from repeating itself, Maeve escapes into alcohol and places the blame for her increasingly chaotic behaviour on her drunken alter ego, Charlie.
Balancing pitch black humour with emotional honesty and lived experience, Hello Charlie offers an unflinching look at the realities of addiction while celebrating the resilience, complexity and dark wit that define the North of Ireland.
Hello Charlie is presented as a cross border co-production between SkelpieLimmer Productions, Front & Centre, and An Grianán Theatre, in association with Pavilion Theatre, Fishamble: The New Play Company and the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, with support from Gallagher Films.
Written by Caoimhe Farren and directed by Seón Simpson and Gina Donnelly, the production stars Farren who plays Maeve, alongside Clare Monnelly who plays Maeve’s sister Kate, Vincent Higgins in the role of their father Finn, and Callum Payne as Alan Beasley.
Hello Charlie opens at The Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire on September 16 before travelling to An Grianán in Letterkenny on September 25 and 26, and the Lyric Theatre, Belfast as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival from October 7-18.
Developed at the Lyric Theatre’s New Playwrights programme and supported by the Pavilion Theatre Patron Donation Award and Fishamble’s New Play Clinic, Hello Charlie is Caoimhe’s debut play. The play has already attracted significant critical attention, having been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and named a finalist for the inaugural Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy marking it as one of the most exciting new Irish plays in recent years.
Lisa McGee, long time supporter of Caoimhe’s writing and of Hello Charlie commented: “Funny, fearless and thought provoking. Hello Charlie is an incredible piece of work and Caoimhe Farren is a remarkable new voice”.