[caption id="attachment_70387" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Seamus Scanlon."]
After being viewed by enthusiastic audiences and getting positive critical feedback, the Irish Cell is being extended until Friday, March 30.
Back Stage describes the production as a “vivid look at power struggles in the [Irish republican] movement during two of its most visible periods, 1916 and 1984. Director Kira Simring has provided the proper pacing for both halves,”
Wild Geese Today say they are "two powerful plays that offer striking insights into the birth and bastardization of Irish republicanism,”
The production at the Cell Theatre comprises “Blood” by Black 47 front man and Echo columnist Larry Kirwan and “Dancing at Lunacy” by Seamus Scanlon.
Kirwan’s one-act play is based upon the abduction of socialist and trade union leader James Connolly in January1916 by Irish Republican Brotherhood leaders Sean MacDermott and Padraig Pearse. Scanlon, who debuts in this week’s Echo as a crime fiction reviewer (page 30), uses fictional characters to explore 1980s Belfast.
“Blood” stars Ciaran Byrne as James Connolly, Paul Nugent as Patrick Pearse and Jed Peterson as Sean MacDermott; “Dancing at Lunacy” stars Brett Aresco as Barman, Mac Brydon as Ahern, Darrell Larson as Pender, Spencer Leopold-Cohen as Doyle/Drinking Customer and Paul Nugent as McGowan.
The production will be performed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week and Thursday and Friday of next week. All performances begin at 8 p.m. at the theatre at 338 West 23rd Street in Manhattan. Tickets are $12.
For more details go to: www.thecelltheatre.org.
