The Pride of Parnell Street
‘See, love between a man and a woman, it’s – private. It happens where you never do see it. In rooms.”
Writer: Sebastian Barry
Director: Jim Culleton
Premiere: Tricycle Theatre, London, September 2007
Cast: Mary Murray, Karl Shiels
Production:
Set & costume design by Sabine Dargent, Lighting design by Mark Galione, Sound design by Denis Clohessy, Produced by Orla Flanagan / Marketa Puzman
Description:
The Pride of Parnell Street is a moving account of a marriage and a time that have both past. Through interconnecting monologues an estranged couple, Janet and Joe, chart the intimacies of their love and the rupturing of their relationship, as well as their enduring love affair with Dublin city itself.
In this world premiere production, Sebastian Barry’s new play explores, with vivid tenderness, the devastating effects of public and private acts of violence. This is an intimate, heroic tale of ordinary and extraordinary life on the streets of Dublin.
Sebastian Barry is a major, internationally-renowned playwright and novelist. His plays include The Steward of Christendom, Our Lady of Sligo, Prayers of Sherkin and Hinterland. His awards include the BBC/Stewart Parker Trust Award, the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Ireland/America Literary Prize, the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play, the Writers’ Guild Award, the Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award and the Peggy Ramsay Play Award, as well as nominations for the Olivier Award and Man Booker Prize.
Read more about The Pride of Parnell Street on tour in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
International Press Quotes:
‘lovingly acted…written in the artful style you have come to associate with Mr. Barry, in which rambling, vernacular talk assumes the music and patterns of poetry. And as directed by Jim Culleton, Ms. Murray and Mr. Kelly share a gift for sensually summoning the fractured present of people for whom the past seems far more vivid than anything since. Both, in other words, are a pleasure to watch and listen to. Mr. Culleton always keeps them onstage at the same time, so you’re aware of the omnipresence of each in the other’s life. Sabine Dargent’s subtly divided set and Mark Galione’s lighting suggest a couple eternally connected and divided, like lovers in a ghost story.’ - Ben Brantley, New York Times
‘the performances in this Fishamble Theatre Company production, imported from Dublin as part of the 59E59 Theaters’ 1st Irish festival, couldn’t be better.’ - New York Post
‘powerful central performances’ – Theatremania
‘a breathtakingly effective memory play…Kelly and Murray are consummate performers…Jim Culleton directs Barry’s words with a subtlety and rhythm that are beautifully balanced…”The Pride of Parnell Street” is the first New York production from the Ireland-based Fishamble: The New Play Company, and also one of the first entries in the 1st IRISH theater festival that runs through October. If this gem is any prediction of signs to come, locals will have a tremendous opportunity to experience first-rate Irish theater. “The Pride of Parnell Street” is quite simply brilliant…Joe and Janet will stay with you beyond the final blackout.’ – The Leader, New York
‘Under the secure direction of Jim Culleton, the talented Kelly and Murray turn this language into authentic arias. Kelly, in the more difficult role, is still the real thing, while Murray as the woebegone wife is able to suffuse Janet with a genuine charm.’ – Backstage
‘Under the secure direction of Jim Culleton, the talented Kelly and Murray turn this language into authentic arias. Kelly, in the more difficult role, is still the real thing, while Murray as the woebegone wife is able to suffuse Janet with a genuine charm…This is a feat that shows strikingly what can be done when a writer, director and actors combine their enormous talent and overcome impossible odds in a real triumph.’ – Curtain Up
‘one of the most honest, subtle, and intricate explorations of “the relationship” seen on stage in recent memory.’ – NYTheater.com
‘Wrenchingly heartfelt…so gripping…a remarkable turn from Murray, reinforced by commendably unfussy direction from Jim Culleton’ Evening Standard
‘Given that Barry writes in a honeyed prose spiked with a wormwood humour, and the monologues are performed with exquisite restraint by Mary Murray and Karl Shiels, there is hardly a dry eye in the house by the end.’ The Guardian
‘That it acquires…a cool, limpid beauty says much for director Jim Culleton, Fishamble’s guiding light, and Karl Shiels’ performance as Joe.’ What’s On Stage
‘exquisitely phrased…intensely powerful conclusion…superb acting from Murray and Shiels, who are sometimes places so that, though far apart, they are looking (unseeingly) at their lost partner’ **** The Times
Irish Press Quotes:
‘Gritty and often deeply moving. Barrys excellent script is laced with lucid humour.immense performances of Shiels and Murray.so powerfully delivered that it will hardly leave a dry eye in the house, affecting, moving and unmissable theatre. Highly recommended.’ RTE.ie
‘Directed and performed with deft beauty,superb, Jim Culleton’s touch throughout is sure, a masterpiece of restraint and controlled emotion.’ Sunday Tribune
‘If Murray is fantastic for the worry in her words and her guarded good spirit, Shiels is compelling for his earthy humour and deep self-loathing.’ The Irish Times
[...] For the full tour history and premiere information on The Pride of Parnell Street, click here. [...]