e

Master Class

An Audience With Maria Callas

Produced by Smock Alley Theatre and Once Off Productions

★★★★★ “One of the best pieces of theatre you’ll attend this year”
– The Reviews Hub

★★★★ “Caitríona Ní Mhurchú gives a sharp performance while Conor Hanratty’s intelligent direction allows for seamless retreats into the past”
– The Irish Times

★★★★ “Caitríona Ní Mhurchú’s delivers a top draw Callas”
– The Arts Review

Winner of the 1996 Tony Award for Best Play.

Passionate, fascinating and supremely talented, Maria Callas remains the pinnacle of operatic stardom. Famous for musical virtuosity, elegance and a sharp temper, Callas was a unique and towering talent.

Terrence McNally’s award-winning play invites an audience in to hear Callas speak in her own voice. Inspired by a series of real masterclasses given at The Juilliard School NY, we encounter Callas’ public lessons about music and performance as well as some of her most private and intimate memories.

To mark the centenary of Callas’ birth, Smock Alley & Once Off Productions are proud to present the Irish premiere of Master Class. Hugely successful on Broadway and the West End, this new Irish production directed by Conor Hanratty will see Smock Alley transformed into an intimate concert space, allowing audiences encounter the magnetism of this great singer up close and personal.

Caitríona Ní Mhurchú will play Maria Callas. The cast includes some of our finest young talent in Leo Hanna, Rebecca Rodgers, Niall Kinsella, Gillian Roberts and Kelli-Ann Masterson who together will conjure those heady days in New York where Callas demands impeccably high standards of her students.

Filled with humour, passion and stories from a legendary career, Master Class is an unmissable celebration of music, theatre and art.

“McNally’s well-crafted, quip-filled drama – which depicts Callas teaching at Juilliard, circa 1971… is less a biography and more a love letter to La Divina”.
Entertainment Weekly

CAST: Caitríona Ní Mhurchú as Maria Callas
Niall Kinsella, Rebecca Rodgers, Leo Hanna, Gillian Roberts and Kelli-Ann Masterson

WRITTEN BY Terrence McNally
DIRECTED BY Conor Hanratty
LIGHTING & SET DESIGN BY Paul Keogan
COSTUME DESIGN BY Maree Kearns
SOUND DESIGN BY Fiona Sheil

TICKETS €25 | €22 Previews / Matinees
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 30 min including an interval

Audio Described Performance Sat 27th May at 1.30pm

With Touch Tour beforehand at 12.15pm (meeting in the foyer)

Please phone Smock Alley box office at 01 6770014 to book your place for the Touch Tour and/or Audio Description.

What is Audio Description?

Audio Description for theatre, dance, opera, comedy, etc. is a live verbal commentary of the visual elements of a production as it unfolds. The audio description is delivered by the describer, usually from the Tech Box, using a mic and radio transmitter. The audience have an earpiece, and a receiver, and can control the volume of the description throughout.

What is a Touch Tour?

Touch Tours enrich the theatre-going experience of audiences with visual impairments. They are a sneak preview of the set, and sometimes an opportunity to meet the cast.


Public Master Class with Tara Erraught Thu 25th May at 2pm

The perfect opportunity to see the opera stars of tomorrow work with one of Ireland’s greatest operatic talents. Alongside Once Off Productions and Smock Alley’s production of Terence McNally’s ‘Master Class’, members of the Irish National Opera Studio show us exactly what it takes to be a modern-day opera singer through a public masterclass with internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, Tara Erraught.

Tara will work through a selection of arias with some of Ireland’s most promising stars of tomorrow, giving us a glimpse into the demanding training process opera singers go through to prepare for a performance.

Reserve your free ticket here.


Post-show discussion / Q + A on Mon 22nd May

A post-show discussion will take place on Mon 22nd May, facilitated by Helen Norton.
Panel will include director Conor Hanratty and members of the company.

11 – 27 May
7:30pm
2:30pm on Sat 20th
1:30pm on Sat 27th (Audio Described Performance)
Main Space