Decadent Theatre Company and Galway Arts Centre Present Donal Ryan’s From a Low and Quiet Sea At Roscommon Arts Centre on Tuesday, May 16, at 8pm.
Directed by Andrew Flynn and adapted for the stage from Donal Ryan’s Booker Prize nominated novel, the drama comes to Roscommon as part of a major 18-venue tour crisscrossing Ireland in May and June. The world premiere production in the 2022 Galway International Arts Festival garnered critical praise with The Irish Independent saying, “not a moment, a nuance, a gesture is less than perfect throughout.”
From a Low and Quiet Sea is a carefully crafted portrait of the intersecting lives of four characters, each searching for a version of home. From war–torn Syria to small–town Ireland, they are scarred by all they have loved and lost and are drawn towards a powerful reckoning that will bring them together in the most unexpected of ways.
For Farouk, family is all. He has protected his wife and daughter from the war. If they stay, they will lose their freedom. Lampy is distracted. He’s with Eleanor, but she’s not Chloe. For John, the game was always the lifeblood coursing through his veins. Manipulating people for enrichment, for enjoyment, for spite. But it was never enough. Florence’s son is acting differently which forces her to look for answers, but she is afraid of the truth that lies within herself.
The adaptation of Ryan’s acclaimed novel is a collaboration between the author, the original cast, and Decadent Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Andrew Flynn. Both natives of Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Andrew Flynn and Donal Ryan have form as creative collaborators. Flynn, along with Boyle native Jarlath Tivnan, adapted Ryan’s novel, The Thing About December, for the stage in 2019. Ryan is the author of six best-selling novels, his debut novel, The Spinning Heart [2013], was also nominated for the Booker Prize and was voted Irish Book of the Decade in 2016. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.
Andrew Flynn has been Artistic Director of Decadent Theatre Company since 2000. One of Ireland’s busiest directors, he is currently directing the Irish premiere of Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen, which is a co-production between Decadent and Gaiety Productions.
Tickets, priced €20/18, are on sale now from the arts centre on 09066 25824 and from roscommonartscentre.ie
