Brendan Gleeson to make West End debut in Conor McPherson’s The Weir

Brendan Gleeson will make his West End debut this fall in a revival of The Weir, directed for the primary time by means of its playwright Conor McPherson.

Gleeson, whose movies come with The Banshees of Inisherin and Paddington 2, described McPherson’s play as “profoundly moving, inspiring and ultimately hopeful”. He will play one of the vital 4 males sharing tales in a far flung Irish pub with a lady who has newly arrived within the house.

The Weir will run first on the Olympia theatre in Dublin from 8 August to 6 September after which at London’s Harold Pinter theatre from 12 September to 6 December. Gleeson carried out on the Olympia theatre initially of his profession and his closing degree look used to be in its 2015 manufacturing of the circle of relatives drama The Walworth Face, showing along his sons Domhnall and Brian. “I can’t wait to be back there, and then to play in the West End for the first time, at the beautiful Pinter theatre,” mentioned Gleeson, who referred to as The Weir “one of the rarest plays around”. Further casting is but to be introduced.

McPherson has a hectic 12 months forward. His new play, The Brightening Air, has simply opened on the Old Vic which is reviving the 2017 Bob Dylan musical Girl from the North Country, which he wrote and directed, this summer time. In October, his adaptation of The Hunger Games, in response to Suzanne Collins’ bestselling 2008 novel and the 2012 movie, will open at a brand new theatre in London’s Canary Wharf.

“I can hardly believe it’s 30 years since I wrote The Weir – and about 30 years since I first met the wonderful Brendan Gleeson,” mentioned McPherson. “It’s an absolute honour to bring this play to life again with one of the great titans of Irish acting.” The Weir’s co-producer Kate Horton described it as “a beautiful play about human connection, the endurance of hope and the essential power of storytelling”.

The Weir used to be staged on the small upstairs theatre on the Royal Court in London in 1997, with Jim Norton – a McPherson common – within the function of native storage proprietor Jack, the section Gleeson will now play. Reviewing the 1997 manufacturing, Michael Billington referred to as The Weir “a spellbinder that transfixes you like the Ancient Mariner’s tale”. McPherson’s play, he wrote, “is much more than a series of hair-raising ghost stories. It offers, in a little over 90 minutes, an extraordinarily rich picture of Irish rural life.” That manufacturing moved downstairs to the primary Royal Court degree in 1998. The play used to be revived on the Donmar Warehouse in 2013 with a solid together with Brian Cox as Jack.