Belfast-born Dan Gordon (aka Red Hand Luke from Give My Head Peace) makes his Lyric Theatre Danske Bank Stage debut in the new co-production with Abbey Theatre of Sean O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman.
Having previously starred in Marie Jones’ play A Night in November in the old Lyric Theatre in 2002 and directing her Christmas hit Mistletoe and Crime at the Lyric in December 2014, Gordon, who plays an Orangeman in the first Gunman to be performed here in 10 years is no stranger to the Lyric Theatre itself.
The first of Sean O’Casey’s Dublin plays, The Shadow of a Gunman is set during Ireland’s War of Independence. Ordinary civilians have been dragged into a vicious guerrilla war of ambushes, raids and reprisals.
Donal Davoren has recently moved into a Dublin tenement. His new neighbours believe he is an IRA gunman in hiding. He embraces this thrilling deception and earns the affection of the charming Minnie Powell. However, when the city is placed under curfew, his fantasy starts to feel very real.
Wayne Jordan (The Plough and the Stars, Twelfth Night) returns to the plays of Sean O’Casey to direct this exciting co-production between the Abbey Theatre and the Lyric.
Executive Producer Jimmy Fay said, “Sean O’Casey is one of the most brilliant Irish writers of the last 100 years, and we’re really excited to be partnering The Abbey to bring this vibrant new production to Belfast and Dublin. I’m a big admirer of Wayne Jordan’s work, and I’m sure that audiences will be as delighted as I am with the fresh approach to the play that Wayne has taken. This is a fantastic play that manages to be genuinely funny without shirking away from the realities of war, and it feels as contemporary today as it did in 1923”.
The play runs in Belfast’s Lyric Theatre from the 3rd May to the 6th June before moving on to Dublin’s Abbey Theatre from the 12th June. For more information and to book tickets click here.
