Decadent Theatre Company is leading the way toward the resumption of live theatre and ambitious touring with a 20-venue national tour of Eugene O’Brien’s award-winning drama, Eden.
Directed by Andrew Flynn, it comes to Roscommon Arts Centre on Wednesday, October 27, as part of its travels across Ireland.
Eden is a story of stale love and fresh lust in the Irish midlands and a searing exploration of marital breakdown and taboo topics such as Irish masculinity, sexual dysfunction, and Ireland’s relationship with alcohol. The play’s two brilliantly drawn characters open their hearts to audiences with honesty, humour, and heartbreak.
From the writer of the hit RTE? drama Pure Mule, Eugene O’Brien’s drama won Best New Play at both the Irish Times Theatre Awards and the Stewart Parker Awards in 2001. It has been performed in London’s West End, on Broadway, and translated into several languages.
Eden has been plagued by plagues, but the tense two-hander is ideally suited to the Covid era, according to Flynn, who is Artistic Director of Galway-based Decadent Theatre Company.
“This year happens to be Eden’s 20th anniversary. It premiered in 2001 and bizarrely, that tour was cancelled because of foot and mouth disease. Social distancing is intrinsic to the play because the characters are completely alienated from each other. The play’s structure demands that the two characters never meet, interact or touch. They are in their own worlds on the stage and don’t even know the other is there," Andrew remarked.
Decadent Theatre Company is firmly established as a leading force in Irish theatre and Flynn is one of the busiest directors at work today. Since founding the Company in 1998, Flynn has developed 33 productions and 23 tours. In 2019 alone he directed five productions by five Irish playwrights that toured to 21 venues in 14 counties.
Starring Maeve Fitzpatrick and Patrick Murphy, Eden’s sterling creative team includes Ger Sweeney [set design], Ciaran Bagnall [lighting], and Carl Kennedy [composer/sound design]. It contains strong language and adult content and is suitable for those aged 16 and over.
Eden’s national tour is supported by the Arts Council’s Touring and Dissemination of Work and Capacity Building Schemes.
Tickets are available now from www.roscommonartscentre.ie & 09066 25824.
