Decadent Theatre Company
12 May 2019 | 7:30pm | Main Space
There’s one in every town, and they call her the Pumpgirl.
She works in the garage, changes the oil and thinks she’s one of the lads.
She’s sweet on ‘No-Helmet’ Hammy, but he loves no one but himself.
He’s out all night with his racing boys, whilst wife Sinead’s off on a joyride of her own, with an ache that’s about to be cured.
It’s a turbo-charged race through the diesel fumes and country music of the Armagh badlands.
Newry playwright Abbie Spallen’s explosively comic play takes us deep into the unspoken thoughts and darkest desires of three lives destined to collide.
Jolene O’Hara as Pumpgirl
Patrick Ryan as Hammie
Seona Tully as Sinead
Written by Abbie Spallen
Directed by Andrew Flynn
Lighting Design by Mike O’Halloran
Set Design by Owen MacCarthaigh
Costume Design by Petra Breathnach
Abbie Spallen comes out all guns blazing, with a piece of sparky and intricately observed writing. – The Guardian ★★★★
Spallen creates and peoples the borderlands of south Armagh with remarkable finesse. Showing plenty of writerly flourishes and psychological wisdom, she is a vital and hugely intelligent talent. This revival of her breakthrough play is timely. – Irish Independent
With sparkling assurance, Abbie Spallen’s Pumpgirl splices comedy and tragedy. Decadent Theatre’s involving, intense production terrifyingly exposes the loneliness and desperation of marginalised characters, claustrophobically trapped by circumstance. Under Andrew Flynn’s taut, surgically-precise direction, this production is carefully-attuned to the small-town cruelties at the heart of a darkly comic, uncompromising text. – Broadway World
A fiercely observed, unflinching play…Ms. Spallen’s penetrating language and unsentimental view place it among the most powerful, adding a fresh, female voice to the boys’ club of Irish playwrights…turns bare-bones setting into a strength, emphasizing the staggering force of good storytelling. – The New York Times
Spallen structures her play like a piece of music, seamlessly slipping between subject and counter-subject…jolts into top gear as three lives career wildly and compellingly out of control. – The Independent UK
Running time : 120 mins including an interval
Age Suitability 16 +
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