Theatre News

Union Spills Irish Blood at West End’s Trafalgar

The 50-seat Union Theatre continues to fire on all cylinders. With its all-male G&S revival of Iolanthe transferred last week to Wilton’s Music Hall and the home base in Southwark preparing for this month’s 40th anniversary revival of Godspell, the theatre’s recent world premiere production of Irish Blood, English Heart has secured its West End transfer for next month.

Darren Murphy’s play (not related to the Morrissey song of the same title), which originally ran at the Union in February, will transfer to the 100-seat Trafalgar Studios 2 for a limited season from 4 to 21 May 2011, with cast members Oliver Gilbert, Ian Groombridge, Howard Teale and Carolyn Tomkinson reprising their performances.

Ray is a charming, enigmatic and successful comedian turned author, his brother Con is a London taxi driver struggling to keep his family together and bruised by his brother’s success. When the two meet in a mysterious lock-up, following their estranged father’s death, raw memories and unspoken truths come spilling out.

Irish Blood, English Heart is helmed by Irish director Catriona McLaughlin and designed by Francesca Rodrigues with sound by Bertram Knappitsch. It’s presented by Ray Suede Productions in association with Ancient Lights Theatre Company. Darren Murphy’s other plays include Tabloid Caligula, A Road in Winter and The Flats.

Ahead of Irish Blood, English Heart, Ella Hickson’s play Precious Little Talent, which has been revised and expanded since it was first seen at the Edinburgh Fringe, has a run this month from 7 to 30 April 2011 (previews from 5 April). James Dacre directs the cast of Ian Gelder, Olivia Hallinan and Anthony Welsh in the story of a young London woman who flees to New York in search of her estranged father and finds love with a young American instead.