Arthur Riordan

Celebrating the work of one of Ireland’s most daring theatre companies, this anthology gathers five plays by established and emerging playwrights. They include vibrant new adaptations of the world classics Peer Gynt and Phaedra alongside vital new dramas that explore issues of urgent contemporary concern, such as sex and sexuality, emigration and climate change. With contributions from Hilary Fannin and Ellen Cranitch, Arthur Riordan, Sonya Kelly, Morna Regan, and Shane Mac an Bhaird – as well as a foreword from Booker Prize-winning novelist Anne Enright - this book is an exciting snapshot of contemporary Irish playwriting. The book operates as a showcase of outstanding new Irish playwriting, blending work by established and emerging playwrights, and also acts as a celebration of one of Ireland’s most important theatre companies. And it includes new plays that demonstrate Rough Magic’s consistent willingness to push the boundaries of Irish theatre, both formally and thematically, in plays that cover such topics as sex and sexuality, emigration and climate change. This edition contains a foreword by Anne Enright, Booker prize winner and Laureate of Irish Fiction.

Celebrating the work of one of Ireland’s most daring theatre companies, this anthology gathers five plays by established and emerging playwrights. They include vibrant new adaptations of the world classics Peer Gynt and Phaedra alongside vital new dramas that explore issues of urgent contemporary concern, such as sex and sexuality, emigration and climate change. With contributions from Hilary Fannin and Ellen Cranitch, Arthur Riordan, Sonya Kelly, Morna Regan, and Shane Mac an Bhaird – as well as a foreword from Booker Prize-winning novelist Anne Enright - this book is an exciting snapshot of contemporary Irish playwriting. The book operates as a showcase of outstanding new Irish playwriting, blending work by established and emerging playwrights, and also acts as a celebration of one of Ireland’s most important theatre companies. And it includes new plays that demonstrate Rough Magic’s consistent willingness to push the boundaries of Irish theatre, both formally and thematically, in plays that cover such topics as sex and sexuality, emigration and climate change. This edition contains a foreword by Anne Enright, Booker prize winner and Laureate of Irish Fiction.

The smash-hit musical comedy of spies, double agents and the laws of improbability. It's 1941. Europe is at war and espionage is the front line. As the rest of the world gets on with World War II, Dublin's lights burn flagrantly and Europe's intellectual elite are out to play. But suspicious messages on a radio show have drawn the attention of MI5, and a diffident young code-breaker is sent to a Dublin crawling with spies and Nazi sympathiseres to determine which side neutral Ireland is really on. Arthur Riordan's musical Improbable Frequency, with music by Bell Helicopter, was first staged at the O'Reilly Theatre, Dublin, in 2004. It transferred to the Abbey Theatre in 2005, and the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2006.