Culture
14 Sep 26

ANIMALS: Boundary-pushing adaptation of Blindboy's short stories to have world premiere at the Abbey Theatre this month

ANIMALS in rehearsal. Credit: Ste Murray

"When reading Blindboy's short stories for the first time, I found them wildly imaginative, fiercely intelligent and deeply moving," says director Dan Colley. "They were exactly the kind of story I'm drawn to for stage adaptation – totally unstageable. So, I leapt at the opportunity to try..."

Characters from Blindboyboatclub's bestselling short stories are set to make the leap from the page to the stage for the very first time – as the eagerly anticipated ANIMALS has its world premiere at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin this month. Running from September 23 to November 7, the Abbey Theatre commission, adapted and directed by Dan Colley, has been described as a "provocative and absurdist spectacle – writ large and set loose on the stage of the National Theatre of Ireland..."

Based on the bestselling short fiction of Blindboyboatclub – the author of The Gospel According to Blindboy, Boulevard Wren, and Topographia Hibernica – the production will see an ensemble cast bring familiar characters like Erskine Fogarty, Pamela Fags and The Poitín Maker to life.

Pat Shortt during rehearsals for ANIMALS. Credit: Steve Murray

The cast includes Pat Shortt (making his Abbey Theatre debut), Aidan Crowe, Emer Dineen, Ashleigh Dorrell, Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle, John Doran, Liz FitzGibbon, Manus Halligan and Karl Quinn.

Director Dan Colley – known for his play Lost Lear, and his adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings – has described working with Blindboy and the rest of the team on "this weird and ambitious play" as "a privilege".

Blindboyboatclub. Photo: Rich Davenport

"When reading Blindboy's short stories for the first time, I found them wildly imaginative, fiercely intelligent and deeply moving," Dan comments. "They were exactly the kind of story I'm drawn to for stage adaptation – totally unstageable. So, I leapt at the opportunity to try.

"ANIMALS brings together a selection of his stories and asks what separates humans from other animals, and whether distinctions like that are as stable as we'd like to believe."

Dan Colley during rehearsals for ANIMALS. Credit: Ste Murray

ANIMALS will touch on a number of themes that have informed Blindboy's artistry – including masking, neurodiversity, gender performance, masculinity and regional identity.

Tickets for ANIMALS at the Abbey Theatre are on sale now. For more information, visit abbeytheatre.ie