★★★★ “McCabe’s absurd tragic-comedy brought to life in a crowning performance by Peter Gowen, making for an unforgettable encounter” The Arts Review

“Pat McCabe has done a skillful job in bringing his anti-hero to life… sad and funny in equal parts… The play is more than well served by a layered and touching performance by Peter Gowen”  Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent 

A man, a banana and a tape recorder.
…and a bomb.

Donie Burris has a whole heap of troubles facing him: with his girlfriend, her son, Dublin gangsters, the Midford mafia and a very overbearing mammy. How can he get them all off his back? He imagines himself as the star of his own gangster movie, and he won’t go down without a fight…

Fight 2Flight Theatre presents Patrick McCabe’s play Country and Irish, a hilarious but savage portrait of a man at the end of his rope, starring Peter Gowen. It is a wild joyride that pays homage to film noir, Samuel Beckett and even the Teletubbies – a startling, provocative fever dream. Featuring a soundtrack of terrific music worthy of the title. Country and Irish is like nothing else you’ll see this year.

Tickets €20 | €18 concession (student/OAP)
Running time 65 mins no interval

2for1 Tuesday preview! 2 tickets for €20 on Tue 18 Apr

WRITTEN BY Patrick McCabe
DIRECTED BY Conor Hanratty
LIGHTING DESIGN BY Eoin Lennon
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN BY Medb Lambert
SOUND DESIGN BY Conor Hanratty
PERFORMED BY Peter Gowen
PRODUCED BY Claire O’Connell

About the company…
Fight2Flight Theatre were artists-in-residence at Smock Alley from August 2021 to May 2022. They presented, in a co-production with Asylum Productions, The Chronicles Of Oggle by Peter Gowen; this production was revived again to be part of the First Fortnight Festival 2022. The world premiere of Country and Irish by Patrick McCabe was mounted in April and well received by both audience and critics alike. The company also created the Actors Friday Forum Initiative with the Arts Council’s and Irish Theatre Institues’s financial support, focussing on Actor welfare and professional development. They also held a rehearsed reading of a new play My Name Is Elizabeth by Peter Gowen. This production is now being revived for a 21 venues tour throughout the four provinces in Ireland. The company is planning a production of a new play by an Irish writer later in the year as part of its continuing relationship with Smock Alley.
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