The Abbey Theatre has announced a never-before-seen rework of Brendan Behan's iconic play "The Quare Fellow", replacing the play's traditionally all-male cast with a cast played exclusively by female and non-binary actors.
The new production, which will run between November 24, 2023, and January 27, 2024, will mark the 70th anniversary of the famous play. It also coincides with the birth centenary of the famous Irish playwright.
The play, which was Behan's first, is set in Mountjoy Prison and presents a grisly view of prison life in Ireland in the 1950s.
The dark comedy is set at a time when homosexuality in Ireland and provides a strong critique of the Irish justice system, religion, and Irish attitudes to sex and politics. It also takes place at a time when the death penalty still existed in Ireland.
The play follows the reactions of jailors and prisoners to the imminent hanging of a condemned man ("The Quare Fellow") and also explores their reactions to the presence of a homosexual man ("The Other Fellow").
"The Quare Fellow" premiered at the Pike Theatre in Dublin in 1954 and was first performed at the Abbey in 1956, with its last performance at the famous theater coming in 1984.
The upcoming production is set to feature Clare Barrett as Regan, Barbara Brennan as Dunlavin, and Wren Dennehy as Mickser and Hangman.
Director Tom Creed told Hot Press that he was captivated by how Behan explored prison life and human rights with "wild humor" and "compassion".
"Working with a large cast of female and non-binary performers, with diverse backgrounds in drama, performance, and cabaret, we will draw on the long tradition of music hall that Behan loved, as well as his subversive legacy of surprising and confronting audiences with big ideas on a good night out," Creed told Hot Press.
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