Notice: There are currently gaps in the database affecting plays from mid 2023, 2024 and mid 2025 due to a technical issue. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible and appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Home | About | Contact Us

The Arts Council Playography Na Gaeilge

Plays

Printer Friendly

The Quare Fellow

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Brendan Behan 

  • Setting

    Set in an Irish prison

  • Notes

    It was subsequently produced by Joan Littlewood's company in the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in 1956.

  • Synopsis

    The Quare Fellow deals with a period between the arrival of a condemned murderer, and his execution, with which the play ends. The murderer is not named, and does not appear in the play. But the characters, his fellow prisoners and some of the warders, talk about him as "the quare fellow". He has been convicted of the murder of his brother, whose body he dismembered.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    Full-Length

    • Cast size

  • Male

    26

  • Total

    26

  • Cast Notes

    Cast doubling occurs.

Original Production

  • Date of First Production

    19 November 1954

  • Producer

    Produced by The Pike Theatre

  • Venue Notes

    First produced at the Pike Theatre, Dublin.

Original Cast
Warder Crinnin Alan Barry
Assistant Hangman, Enoch Jenkinson Patrick Clarke
The Chief Warder Robert Lepler
Assistant Hangman, Christmas Halliwell Gilbert McIntyre
The Chaplain Alan Barry
The Recorded Singing Voice of the Prisoner in the Brendan Behan
The Other Fellow Patrick Clarke
Warder Donnelly Denis Hickey
A Medical Orderly Gilbert McIntyre
A Cook from the Hospital Gilbert McIntyre
The Voice of an Englishman on Remand Art O'Phelan
Scolara, juvenile prisoner Art O'Phelan
The Speaking Voice of a Prisoner in the Punishment Derry Power
Prisoner C (The Boy from the Island) Derry Power
A Hangman James Tinkler
The Governor Tom Willoughby
Prisoner A (Hard Case) Austin Byrne
Second Warder Patrick Duggan
Shaybo, juvenile prisoner Patrick Duggan
Neighbour Dermot Kelly
Mickser David Kelly (2)
Mr. Hely, an Official of the Department David Kelly (2)
Dunlavin John MacDarby
Prisoner D (The Embezzler) Geoffrey Mackey
First Warder Tom Nolan
Prisoner B (The Man of Thirty) Pat Nolan(2)
Warder Regan Gearóid Ó Lochlainn
A Principal Warder Liam Shanahan
The Lifer, a reprieved murderer Herbert Thomas
Production Team
Director Alan Simpson
Set Designer Alan Simpson
Lighting Designer Alan Simpson
Manager Tom Willoughby
Assistant Producer Carolyn Swift
Stage Manager Gilbert McIntyre
Assistant Stage Manager Alan Barry
Assistant Stage Manager Derry Power
PR Rosamund Stephens
Resident Stage Manager Edmund Kelly

Published Scripts

  • Title

    Behan: The Complete Plays.

  • Year

    1978

  • Published By

    Methuen

  • Address

    Head Office, 215 Vauxhall Bridge Road
    London SW1V 1EJ
    England

  • Phone

    + 44 (0)20 7798 1600

  • Website

    www.methuen.co.uk

  • ISBN

    0413387801

  • Purchase From Amazon...

Rights Information

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme and Carolyn Swifts's autobiography, Stage by stage (Poolbeg, 1985)