OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Hugh Leonard 

• Synopsis

  At a family poker session the players are confronted with their contribution to the illness of released mental patient who has just killed his former rival. The Poker Session is a sort of welcome home party for Billy Beavis, who has spent the past twelve months in an asylum. It emerges that he was admitted to the asylum after losing his mind after a similar party. The other partygoers sidle around the roots of Billy's madness, in dialogue filled with macarbre humour, until all is revealed in the final act.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  3

• Female

  3

• Total

  6

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  23 August 1963

• Producer

  Produced by Dublin Theatre Festival and Gemini Productions

• Original Venue

  Gate Theatre/Amharclann an Gheata
  

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme.