Greta Garbo Came to Donegal

Synopsis

Greta Garbo came to Donegal, and she did. The year is 1967 - nothing is ever the same after. Ireland is on the verge of violent change, two couples are on the verge of ending, a woman tries to save her family, a girl tries to save her future. Above it all but in the midst of things, determining what happens next, is the loveliest and loneliest of all women, the great Garbo. But when the gods arrive, they can cause havoc, not least to themselves, as the divine Greta learns.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 12 January 2010

Greta Garbo really did visit Donegal, in 1970, as the guest of an English painter, but Frank McGuinness fictionalises the occasion backwards to the summer of 1967, with Ireland on the brink of the recent Troubles and Scott Mackenzie singing of trips to San Francisco with flowers in your hair.

It’s a good set-up that could have backfired but doesn’t thanks to the witty discretion in how McGuinness presents the catalytic arrival of the reclusive star in the Donegal backwater, and the raw passion with which he writes the ensuing domestic crisis; I haven’t admired a play of his so much since Dolly West’s Kitchen ten years ago.

The crumbling house, with a history of contested ownership, is set in a field of bullrushes with a sense of life passing the womenfolk by - there’s more than a nod towards Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa, and not just in the nearly-on-the-table dancing; it belongs to an English artist, Matthew Do...

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Latest User Review

C Hayhurst - 19 February 2010:

One of the best productions I have seen at the Tricycle. Very well acted by all, hugely enjoyable....

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