OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Seán McCarthy 

• Setting

  Set in the living room of a semi-detached house in a Cork suburb.

• Synopsis

  Charlie and Máire leave Thatcher’s London to return to Cork, full of optimism and idealism. However the ‘dinner party’ they throw to reunite with three of their closest, oldest friends, turns into an evening of bitching and drinking, ending up literally in a right mess. The blighted idealism of the returning couple (who emigrated in the first place for moral/philosophical, rather than economic reasons) clashes with the shallow, conservative materialism of those who stayed behind to build the “new” Ireland, and gives us, what could be called, a very black comedy of manners.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  3

• Female

  2

• Total

  5

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  05 March 1981

• Producer

  Produced by Abbey Theatre/Amharclann na Mainistreach

• Original Venue

  Abbey Theatre/Amharclann na Mainistreach
  

• Venue Notes

  Produced on the Peacock Stage.

Source Of Information

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