Previous Productions
Take a moment to look through our previous productions at Livin’ Dred… years in the making.
The Whispering Chair
Written by Tara Maria Lovett
2022 | Directed by Bryan Burroughs
The Whispering Chair tells the story of a modern marriage twisted and torn by the dark family history of the War of Independence: what was done, by whom, and not spoken about. Maud lives with her grandmother Aggie’s values, views, hidden resentments, and it is destroying her marriage. Through the renovation of a throw-away chair, Maud’s husband Con comes to fully understand his wife is unknowingly living through the dark shadow of her grandmother, and what Aggie felt forced to do during The War. The old woman from the past has shaped the modern woman and poisoned her. Can either survive?
Tarry Flynn
Written by Patrick Kavanagh. Adapted for the stage by Conall Morrison.
2022 | Directed by Aaron Monaghan
Set in Cavan in the 1930s, Tarry Flynn tells the story of Tarry, a farmer poet, and his quest for big fields, young women and the meaning of life. His sensibility is torn between two impulses: the poetic and the libidinous. We follow his adventures as he uncovers the beauty in every aspect of nature and farm life, all the while keeping up his desperate campaign to get a kiss.
Danti-Dan
Written by Gina Moxley
2021 | Directed by Aaron Monaghan
Danti-Dan is a tragi-comedy about the loss of innocence and the lust for sex. The play is set on a short stretch of road in the middle of nowhere outside Cork city during the interminable summer of 1970. The motley gang that hang out on the stretch of road between the monument and the bridge comprises of Dan, a 14-year-old with a functioning age of 8; Ber who is up the walls worried that she may be pregnant by Noel even though they only did it standing up; Dolores, one of the world’s good girls who basks in the reflected glory of Dolores, her older, sexier sister, and Cactus who is the bane of everybody’s life. By the end of the summer, all their lives have changed utterly.
A Christmas Carol
Written by Charles Dickens
2020 | Directed by Aaron Monaghan
Award-winning actors Aaron Monaghan and Bryan Burroughs dressed in snazzy suits – play all the characters at break-neck speed using an array of colourful hats, scarves and an Ikea coat-rack! (The famous cautionary tale tells the story miserly Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by ghosts who take him on a journey through his past, present and future one fateful Christmas Eve.) This production is funny, slightly scary, utterly heart-warming and features a surprise special guest appearing as Tiny Tim.
Trad
Written by Mark Doherty
2019 | Directed by Aaron Monaghan
Trad, a short but epic voyage, follows the relationship of a one hundred year old Irishman and his father, in a surreal comedy that looks at the value of tradition. Da, an ancient widower, berates his son Thomas for failing to provide a son to continue the family line. But Thomas has a secret, dating back seventy years to an unforgettable night of passion with Mary, that resulted in the very thing his Da is looking for…
Bailegangaire
Written by Tom Murphy
2016 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
Bailegangaire tells the story of three women who are dependent on, and at war with, one another. Mommo, the dominating and tyrannical grandmother, is bed-ridden and attended by two long-suffering granddaughters. In her unfinished storytelling Mommo has the power to keep the sense of the past alive or finish the story and liberate both herself and her two granddaughters from the chaos and blight that hangs over them all.
The Kings of the Kilburn High Road
Written by Jimmy Murphy
2016 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
In the mid 1970s, a group of young men left their homes in the West of Ireland, took the boat out of Dublin Bay and sailed across the sea to England in the hope of making their fortunes and returning home. Twenty five years later only one, Jackie Flavin, makes it home – but does so in a coffin. The play takes place on the day that the winners and losers of the group meet up to drink to Flavin’s memory and looks at their lives, lost dreams and their place in the new Ireland.
Emerald Germs of Ireland
Written by Pat McCabe
2010 & 2015 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
The story of a man who has got rid of his mother, (perhaps even killed her?) leaving him free to entertain an array of colourful characters who come calling. Each of them has an effect on Pat, sometimes shocking, often funny, but how much of this is in Pat’s head?
The Bridge Below the Town
Written by Pat McCabe
2013 & 2014 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
A surreal, phantasmagoric look at the snobberies and religious tensions of small-town life, focusing mainly on the reveries of Golly Murray, a Protestant who married a Catholic and whose intellectually handicapped son has died.
Ride On!
Written by Seamus O’Rourke
2011 & 2012 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
A charity Honda ride is held up because of bad weather. Five members of the club meet in a shed to discuss last minute details, while the other members are stuck in a local pub. The rain continues and tempers fray as fears mount that the ride might not happen.
Heading for Dakota
Written by John McArdle
2010 | Directed by Tommy McArdle
The story of two Cavan farmer brothers, Wellies and Suit, one of whom wants to celebrate Christmas night by going to karaoke while the other has less musical plans for the evening. The play takes them through the year from that Christmas night to the next, from the first Kill football match of the year to the annual general meeting? The resulting comedy is made up of hilarious situations and belly-wrenching one-liners, as the brothers try to dream their way out of reality, while the innate sadness perceived by many to be behind the comic duo is found to be rooted in the painful changes in the society in which they live, a society trying to come to terms, as they are, with the economic, cultural and spiritual complexities of to-day’s world.
Observe the Sons of Ulster, Marching Towards the Somme
Written by Frank McGuinness
2009 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
This play follows the experience of eight men who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of the First World War. It reaches a climax at the start of the terrible battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, the actual anniversary of the battle of the Boyne in 1690. The Somme, where the Ulster Division suffered heavy casualties, has, like the Boyne, come to have a sacred place in the Loyalist Protestant mind. It marks the Union sealed with blood. It stands for the ultimate test of Ulster’s loyalty; a blood-sacrifice to match any made by Irish nationalists.
There Came A Gypsy Riding
Written by Frank McGuinness
2009 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
The McKenna family convenes at their remote West of Ireland holiday home to mark the 21st birthday of their late son Gene
A Christmas Carol
Adaptation by Aaron Monaghan
2008 | Directed by Aaron Monaghan
On Christmas Eve 1846, miser Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his business partner Marley, and by the spirits of Christmas past, present and future.
The Dead School
Written by Pat McCabe
2008 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
Raphael Bell, the old-style national school teacher whose life is haunted by images and memories from his past, has devoted his life to upholding his school’s rigorous core curriculum. By the late 1960s, however, parents and students have begun to question Bell’s inflexibility on such issues as corporal punishment and mandatory school prayer. Bell attributes all such criticism to the baleful influence of television, rock music, and American movies. His rage finally finds a focus in Malachy Dudgeon, a first-year teacher who seems to embody all the worst features of the counterculture. The two are soon locked in a power struggle that can only end in disaster.
The Good Father
Written by Christian O’Reilly
2008 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
A love story of how two people starting at the end try to reach a new beginning. Tim and Jane are from different sides of the class divide, but after a random meeting at a New Year’s Eve party leads to an unexpected pregnancy, they attempt to form a relationship against all the odds.
Shoot the Crow
Written by Owen McCafferty
2008 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
Ding Ding, Randolph, Petsey and Socrates are four very different characters working together ‘on the site’. Ding Ding, about to retire, conspires to relieve the gaffer of a pallet of tiles with the help of young Randolph. Unfortunately, he is not the only one with that idea, as Petsey and Socrates have decided to do exactly that to aid their own good causes. Their bumbling efforts at petty crime tell a comic story of four men on the make.
The Children of Lir
Written by Noel Monaghan
2007 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
The Children of Lir is a legend from Irish mythology. It is a tale from the post-Christianisation period that mixes magical elements such as druidic wands and spells with a Christian message of faith bringing freedom from suffering.
Conversations on a Homecoming
Written by Tom Murphy
2007 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
Over a long drinking session in an East Galway pub a group of friends gather together after an absence of ten years. Faced with the changes the years have wrought, they begin a long process of self-discovery.
The Tinker’s Curse
Written by Michael Harding
2007 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
Explores the power and sometimes destructive effects of the Traveller’s world on ordinary lives, through the moving story of Julia Rattigan. Haunted by a series of accidental events that led to the tragic death of a loved one, superstition and crippling beliefs lock her in a condition of endless pain.
The Little Dance Girl
Written by Padraic McIntyre
2006 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
The Little Dance Girl tells the story of Molly, a young girl, who despite her major handicap has a natural talent to set the world alight when she dances. The play looks at how one incident can change the course of her life and that of her family.
The Snow Child
Written by Deirdre Kinlahan
2005 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
The Snow Child is an adaptation of a Russian Fairytale which tells how an old couple befriend a snowchild who comes to life. However the Gods do not let everything run smoothly.
Belfry
Written by Billy Roche
2005 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
Artie is the sacristan in the local church. Caring for his elderly mother, he spends most of his time with Father Pat and Dominic the young alter-server – that is until Angela starts to help with the church flowers. The two begin a soaring affair, but when somebody tells Angela’s husband, Archie is left to face life without her.
The Tale of the Blue Eyed Cat
Written by Deirdre Kinlahan
2004 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
An adaptation of an Enid Blyton story which tells of the goings on in the toy room of Mary Spratt.
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Written by Martin McDonagh
2004 | Directed by Padraic McIntyre
The Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a plain and lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag, her manipulative ageing mother. Mag’s interference in her daughter’s first and possibly final chance of a loving relationship sets in motion a train of events that lead inexorably towards the play’s inevitable dénouement.
Upcoming Programme
Livin’ Dred has re-forged its partnership with the venues it has worked closely with in the past fifteen years, particularly with the Nomad and Nasc Touring Networks, and has committed of touring yearly. We have also set ourselves the task of bringing our work to Dublin more regularly by establishing close relationships with The Abbey Theatre, Axis Ballymun and Pavilion, Dún Laoghaire.
The company plans, over the next three years, to undertake a Programme of Forgotten Gems and New Writing. In continuing its commitment to bring old and new work, that speaks to and about our audience and our region, Livin’ Dred has envisioned a programme of work that focusses on two main strands:
Forgotten Gems
Great established plays from the Classical Irish Canon, that have been forgotten or over-looked in the past decade.
New Writing
An initiative that aims to bring young, new dynamic voices to the company.
“I think theatre in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves live performance.”