Off-Broadway's Irish Repertory Theatre will host two American premieres in the 2002-2003, including Enda Walsh's 2000 drama Bedbound, set to star two-time Tony Award nominee Brian O'Byrne.
The company will also revive Tom Murphy's Bailegangaire, directed by Murphy and featuring Pauline Flanagan as the senile old woman Mommo. Bailegangaire kicks off the Irish Rep season in the fall.
In Bedbound, O'Byrne plays the morally bankrupt father of a sick girl, whose dedication to success once resulted in murder. He had been grooming his daughter to follow in his footsteps, but polio destroys that dream. The play, to be directed by Walsh (Disco Pigs), is told entirely through monologues.
Irish Rep also brings Michael West's 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival entry Foley to New York in 2002-2003. A 90-minute monologue, Foley is the story of middle-aged George, the last of a long line of Irish Protestants and one of the few of his breed still living in the Republic of Ireland. Foley later played London's Royal National Theatre, following its Fringe bow.
A fourth show will be announced in future. Subscriptions are $120. The Irish Repertory Theatre is located at 132 W. 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. For subscription and ticket information, call (212) 727-2737. Irish Repertory Theatre is on the web at http://www.irishrep.org. — By Christine Ehren