Nora Kelly Lester

Sometimes it’s hard to be a Bunny.

After critically acclaimed runs at Camden Fringe, Thess Fringe and Smock Alley Theatre Dublin, Nora Kelly Lester’s Bunny Bunny returns to Smock Alley this July.

Bunny is mad. She’s mad as hell and she’s not going to take it anymore…is she?

On the edge of eviction, her love life in pieces and no money in her pockets, Bunny tries again. An absurdist romantic nightmare comedy filled with empty piggy banks, landlord ex-lovers, their new lovers, and a song about hotel soap, Bunny Bunny is a solo clown show created by Nora Kelly Lester, directed by Nessa Matthews about trying to hold it all together while everything is falling apart.

‘One of the stand out performances of 2024’

‘A master of clowning, miming and comedic timing…Lester was playing comedic tennis with the members of audience she spoke to. There wasn’t a single answer she couldn’t turn into comedy gold’
★★★★★ The Reviews Hub

“Masterful clowning shows us a woman struggling with life in a way that will be all too familiar to many: full of humour and pathos, as all clowns should be.”
★★★★ Everything Theatre

“A rollicking comedy that never forgets its endearing heart”
★★★★ London Pub Theatres

Age Suitability: 14+
Warnings: Strong language / Sexual reference

WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY Nora Kelly Lester
DIRECTED BY Nessa Matthews
LIGHTING DESIGN BY Conor Byrne
SET CONSULTANT Ellen Kirk
SCENIC ARTIST Stephane Hanly
GRAPHIC DESIGN BY Lloyd Collins

Development supported by The Arts Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Scene+ Heard, Wexford Arts Centre & ISACS LIFT Residency, Dublin Circus Project & Dance Ireland’s CATALYST Residency.

TICKETS €18 | €15 (CONCESSION)

MATINÉE TICKETS €16

€12 per person for groups of 6+

RUNNING TIME 75 mins

ABOUT THE COMPANY
Nora Kelly Lester is a theatre maker, director, actor, and clown artist from Dublin.
Nora has toured internationally and worked extensively with world renowned theatre company Dead Centre, as an assistant director, on their productions of Lippy, Chekhov’s First Play, and Hamnet.

She recently wrote and starred in her critically acclaimed solo comedy clown show ‘Bunny Bunny’. As an artist Nora is interested in interrogating the fusion of clowning, improvisation and contemporary theatre, combining elements of truth, provocation, humanity and interaction with an audience in her work. She likes to make work that turns audience’s perceptions on their heads, provides true belly aching laughter, and deals with serious themes in playful and provocative ways.

She has created work as Catalyst artist in residence with Dublin Circus Project and Dance Ireland, as well as LIFT artist in residence with Wexford Arts Centre, and as director in residence at The New Theatre, Dublin.

Nessa Matthews is an actor, director, writer/maker from Co. Louth. As an actor, she trained at LAMDA (fDa Distinction).
Acting Credits include: Film & TV: The Tourist, Season 2 (BBC, Stan, Netflix), The Ick (An Pointe Productions), Gap (Mycrofilms), Sineater (Sean Clancy), Fair City (RTÉ), Inspector Jury (ZDF), Hen (Janna Kemperman). Stage: Standing in Lifts with Strangers (Bewley’s Theatre), Will I See You There? (Murmuration), Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play (Rough Magic), The Roaring Banshees (Devious Theatre), Phillip Pullman’s Grimm Tales (Philip Wilson, Southbank Bargehouse, Grimm Tales LTD).

As a writer/maker, she co-created/wrote/performed the award-winning INFINITY for stage (Dublin Fringe Festival 2018, First Fortnight 2019, VAULT Festival 2019). Other writing credits include solo show, WAY BEYOND THE BLUE, as part of a residency at Theatre Upstairs in 2015. She is currently developing Doomscroller which had it’s first Work in Progress showing at Scene & Heard 2024, and SoundStage. She was an associate artist at Axis Ballymun through the Axis Assemble scheme in 2021, and is supported by the arts council through the Agility Award.

As a director, most recent credits include MADE FROM PAPER (in association with Mermaid Arts Centre, funded by the Arts Council, recipient of the DTF Futures Fund in 2021 and supported by Scene + Heard/Fringe Lab). Other credits include: Gleek of the Week (Smock Alley), Bunny Bunny (Smock Alley, Camden Fringe, Wexford Arts Centre), In Loco Parentis (Smock Alley), Kinder Egg Spirits (Smock Alley), Arachnophobia (The New Theatre).