The Abbey Theatre have announced a new restaging of Brendan Behan's 1954 play, The Quare Fellow, directed by theatremaker Tom Creed. Coinciding with the end of the birth centenary of the iconic Dublin writer and poet, as well as the beginning of the 70^th anniversary of the play, The Quare Fellow will be given a never-seen-before rework for the Abbey stage.

The upcoming production will see the traditionally all-male cast played exclusively by female and non-binary actors.

Behan's first play, The Quare Fellow presents Mountjoy prison as a microcosm of society, critiquing the judicial system, religion, as well as Irish attitudes towards sex and politics. Behan's darkly comic piece is a grim portrait of prison-life, set in a time when homosexuality was illegal in Ireland — and often punished by death.

The Quare Fellow first premiered at the Pike Theatre, Dublin in 1954 directed by Alan Simpson. The Abbey Theatre first produced the play in 1956 and its most recent production at the Abbey was in 1984.

The play is set to star Clare Barrett as Regan, Barbara Brennan as Dunlavin and Wren Dennehy as Mickser and Hangman.

Of the new production, director Tom Creed said: "Approaching The Quare Fellow almost 70 years after it was first performed, I am captivated and deeply moved by the wild humour and great compassion with which Brendan Behan explores prison life and human rights"

"Working with a large cast of female and non-binary performers, with diverse backgrounds in drama, performance and cabaret, we will draw on the long tradition of music hall that Behan loved, as well as his subversive legacy of surprising and confronting audiences with big ideas on a good night out...”

The Abbey's staging of The Quare Fellow runs from Friday, 24^th November to Saturday, 27^th January on the Abbey stage — with tickets available here.