Frank McGuinness

his cheekbones so beautiful I have to close my eyes in case he blinds me A young man relives the youth he spent in 'a refuge for wayward boys'. In his memories, the forces of faith, power and money dominate this starkly unsettling institution, where not everything is as it seems. The boys call it Gomorrah. Gomorrah is a mirror to the contradictions of 1970s Ulster, a place where violence, control and desire meet. Now, years later, the man must make peace with his past to find his way in the world. Do You Come From Gomorrah? opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in April 2026.

Let's see how crafty a picture you paint. You're making a demon out of a saint. In this spectacular dramatic comedy, the villainous Tartuffe shocks and enthrals with his deceptive powers. Charming to some, a danger to others, one family risks losing everything if he gets his way. Molière's exuberant seventeenth-century classic is brought back to life in an audacious contemporary Irish version by Frank McGuinness. Tartuffe premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in March 2023.

I am honoured to meet you. You are, as they say, a man after my own heart. And you have lifted mine. My heart, that is. Two men, together, on the edge of heaven. In a strange restaurant, two American giants who revere each other, Groucho Marx and T. S. Eliot, meet for dinner. Both in their own ways great defiant spirits, they create magic and anarchy, revealing secrets and sorrows. The evening is presided over by the Proprietor, who seems to control the workings of the universe. Or perhaps not. All is revealed, or nearly so. A fast-paced fictional dinner date like no other, Frank McGuinness's Dinner With Groucho was first produced by b*spoke theatre company at The Civic, Dublin, in September 2022.

You used to swing me on our garden gate. In and out, in and out - out and in, me, on top of the gate, safe because I was in your arms, my father's big strong arms. Recalling events that may or may not have happened, people he may or may not have known, an elderly father weaves his life, funny, angry, poignant, as if in a dream. His daughter, perched outside his window, as close as the pandemic allows, responds with conflicting memories. They sing and argue, they broach dangerous ground, their profound love apparent despite themselves, until the visiting hour is up. Written during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, Frank McGuinness's The Visiting Hour premiered in April 2021 at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in the first online Gate At Home production.

Speak. Speak loud and clear. Let them hear you in Belfast. Let the Fenians hear it everywhere. Let the Hun hear the sons of Ulster preaching war. On 1 July 1916, the 36th (Ulster) Division took part in one of the bloodiest battles in human history, the Battle of the Somme. In the extraordinary circumstances of World War I, eight ordinary men are changed, changed utterly. Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme premiered on the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985.'A great act of theatrical generosity.' GUARDIAN

The Sophoclean classic: When King Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War with his new concubine, Cassandra, his wife Clytemnestra (who has taken Agamemnons cousin Aegisthus as a lover) kills them. Clytemnestra believes the murder was justified, since Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia before the war, as commanded by the gods. Electra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, rescued her young, twin brother Orestes from her mother by sending him to Strophius of Phocis. The play begins years later when Orestes has returned as a grown man with a plot for revenge, as well as to claim the throne.

Obsessed with his own salvation, the hermit Paulo dedicates himself to ten years of prayerful penance. When his faith wavers, the ever-watchful Devil seizes the moment to convince him that he shares the fate of one Enrico, a notorious Neapolitan gangster destined for damnation. Swearing vengeance, Paulo lashes out against God and assembles a band of rival outlaws. I'll match Enrico in mad badness. So, we're damned, both of us, are we? Then I'll be revenged on the whole world. And yet, even as their villainous crimes escalate, the possibility of redemption hovers over the two men, perhaps within reach. A fast-paced adventure story embracing bandits and beautiful women between glimpses of heaven and hell, this subversive and at times riotous exploration of faith and the transformative power of love races across the Italian landscape, relishing the unpredictability of fate, an extraordinary array of characters and their very real dilemmas. Sinner I am - pray for me. Damned by Despair, written in 1635 by the great Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina, is brought to vivid life in Frank McGuinness's new version, whichopens at the National Theatre, London, in October 2012.

And she grew to be a girl, my daughter. Sing a song, Mary. Sing for grandma and Granda. Sing. The ties that bind can never be broken. For Sal, they hang like a noose around her neck, just loose enough to keep a small but potent flame burning inside. A passionate story of love and hate, The Match Box by Frank McGuinness premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse in June 2012.

This collection is a record of some of the most important performative ideas and embodied interventions that have shaped queer culture and theatre and performance practice in Ireland in recent times, principally in the years following the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1993, up to and including the present. The anthology includes plays, experimental performance documentation, and a visual essay that reveal the impassioned creativity that illuminates and invigorates the margins of culture.

Drama / 3m, 2f / Interior Written by acclaimed Irish author Frank McGuinness, whose Someone Who'll Watch Over Me earned a Tony(R) Award nomination, Gates of Gold is an acerbic duel between two lovers, the fashionable and eloquent theatrical trailblazers who founded Dublin's Gate Theatre. Gates of Gold is witty and moving - a vibrant celebration of art, love, and finally, life itself. "Compelling! This endearing love letter of a play!" -The New York Times "Moving! Provocative! Compelling performances!" -New York Post

The McKenna family convenes at their remote West Ireland holiday home to mark the 21st birthday of their late son Gene. Eccentric cousin Bridget appears along the causeway, inviting herself for birthday cake and conversation, and ready to expose a family secret. Even Margaret, the unstoppable mother, and Leo, the ever-calm father, can't hold things together in the face of an unexpected visit from the past. There Came a Gypsy Riding premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in January 2007.

Nora Helmer, wife to Torvald and mother of three children, appears to enjoy living the live of a pampered, indulged child. But as her economic dependence becomes brutally clear, Nora's acceptance of the status quo undergoes a profound change. To the bewildered Torvald, himself caught in the tight web of a conservative society which demands that he exert strict control, Nora comes to see that the only possible true course of action is to leave the family home.

An Englishman, an Irishman and an American are locked up together in a cell in the Middle East. As victims of political action, powerless to initiate change, what can they do? How do they live and survive? Frank McGuinness explores the daily crisis endured by hostages whose strength comes from communication, both subtle and mundane, from humour, wit and faith. Someone Who'll Watch Over Me premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1992 before transferring to the West End. On Broadway, it was awarded the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play and nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1993.