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The Arts Council Playography Na Gaeilge

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Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy

1945 -

Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy was born in Co Derry. She was a founder member and resident director of the Focus Theatre, Dublin, from 1975 to 1983. During that time she wrote and directed for the company Daughters (Dublin Theatre Festival 1975), Alice in Wonderland, The Golden Goose, Enter the Photographer and Curigh the Shapeshifter (Dublin Theatre Festival 1980). In 1981, she wrote The Wind of the Word for Team Theatre Company. In 1993, she wrote and directed The Parrot (Dublin Theatre Festival). In 1984, she was commissioned by the Cork Theatre Company to write Women in Arms, for which she was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn award. This was followed by Uncle Silas (adapted from the novel by Sheridan Le Fanu). She was also the founder and artistic director of Storytellers Theatre Company, and has served on the Arts Council. Mary Elizabeth teaches in the TISCH Dublin Summer Program for NYU, and on the Drama Studies post-graduate degree courses in UCD and in NUIG.

Playwriting Credits

Play Title Playwright
Cross My Heart Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Curigh The Shape Shifter Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Daughters Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Hansel and Gretel Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Mysteries 2000 Brendan Kennelly Michael McCaffery Deirdre Purcell Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill Johnny Hanrahan Joseph O'Connor (1) Pat Kinevane Gavin Kostick Michael Scott (2) Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Declan Gorman Joe O'Byrne Derek Chapman Aidan Mathews Fergus Linehan (1)
The Golden Goose Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
The Parrot Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
The Red Hot Runaways Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
The Wind of the Word Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Women in Arms Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy

Adaptations

Play Title Playwright
Alice In Wonderland Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Lewis Carroll
Emma Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Jane Austen
Hard Times Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Charles Dickens
Legends Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy William Butler Yeats
Oedipus Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Sophocles
Silas Marner Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy George Eliot
The Mayor of Casterbridge Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Thomas Hardy
The Nose Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Nikolai Gogol
The Star Child and Other Stories Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Oscar Wilde
The Trial of Esther Waters Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy George Moore
Uncle Silas Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Wuthering Heights Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Emily Brontë

Actor

Play Title Playwright
Daughters Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Day of the Mayfly Declan Burke-Kennedy
When The Wall Came Down Renate Ahrens-Kramer

Director

Play Title Playwright
Alice In Wonderland Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Lewis Carroll
An adaptation of the original novel by Lewis Carroll.
Curigh The Shape Shifter Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Dixie Seán McCarthy
Hard Times Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Charles Dickens
Adapted from the original novel by Charles Dickens.
Hoods Declan Burke-Kennedy
Legends Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy William Butler Yeats
Adapted from 'Tadgh O Cathan and the Corpse' by W.B. Yeats, literally translated from the Irish by Douglas Hyde and from 'The Legend of Knockgrafton' by T. Crofton Croker.
Peer Gynt Declan Burke-Kennedy Henrik Ibsen
Adapted from Ibsen's original.
Snake Eye and the Diamond Lin Ford
The Golden Goose Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
The Nose Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Nikolai Gogol
Adapted from Nikolai Gogol's original.
The Parrot Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
The Trial of Esther Waters Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy George Moore
Adapted from the original novel by George Moore.
The Wind that Shook the Barley Declan Burke-Kennedy
Uncle Silas Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Adapted from the novel by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.
Women in Arms Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy
Adapted from the epic poem Tain Bo Cuailgne.
Wuthering Heights Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Emily Brontë
Adapted from the original novel by Emily Brontë.

Company Artistic Director

Play Title Playwright
Emma Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Jane Austen
Adapted from the original novel by Jane Austen.
Oedipus Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Sophocles
A version of the myth.
Silas Marner Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy George Eliot
Adapted from the original novel by George Eliot.
The Mayor of Casterbridge Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Thomas Hardy
Adapted from the original novel by Thomas Hardy.
The Star Child and Other Stories Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Oscar Wilde
Adapted from Oscar Wilde's original short stories.
When The Wall Came Down Renate Ahrens-Kramer

Lighting Designer

Play Title Playwright
The Nose Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy Nikolai Gogol
Adapted from Nikolai Gogol's original.