Enda Walsh, Emma Donoghue, James Joyce and Roddy Doyle To Feature In Exciting Abbey Theatre 2017 Programme

Graham McLaren and Neil Murray took up their positions as the new Directors of the Abbey Theatre in October. Two months on, they've revealed ‘Abbey Theatre 2017: What happens next is this…’, a vision for 2017. This new programme will include 15 projects for the Abbey stage in 2017, including a series of free previews that ensures the national theatre will be open to all.

Speaking about the programme's heavy focus on adaption, McLaren and Murray said: "We wanted to start our first season on the Abbey stage by inviting in Irish artists, companies and shows we have long admired. A number of these shows have never been seen in Dublin and none of them at the national theatre. If you haven’t seen them yet, you should, and if you have seen them you should see them again."

Produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival, Enda Walsh’s Arlington and Ballyturk will kick off the season. Arlington, one of the most talked about productions of 2016, is a compelling ode to the human spirit and its power to endure.

Following rave reviews at the National Theatre in London, the ambitious and profound Ballyturk is also back, this time with a cast of Olwen Fouéré, Mikel Murfi and Tadhg Murphy. Ballyturk is a gut-wrenchingly funny, achingly sad play. In a statement, the Abbey Theatre Directors said: "This will be the first time that the work of Enda Walsh, one of Ireland’s theatrical superstars, will have been seen on the main stage of the Abbey Theatre."

The Corn Exchange’s much loved alternative version of the founding of the national theatre was an instant hit when it first opened in 2004. Fading stars, rebels, whores and romantics irreverently expose the strange and lurid world of Dublin by Lamplight. ‘We saw and loved this show in Edinburgh many years ago and we knew once we were appointed, we wanted to ask The Corn Exchange to remount it for the Abbey.’

Rough Magic’s inspiring musical, The Train, explores a short journey which marked the beginning of a modern odyssey. Determined to challenge the restrictive laws of the 1970s Irish State, a group of 47 trailblazing women take a train to Belfast and return to Dublin with forbidden contraceptives. ‘From a revolutionary stance 45 years ago, this story still has an amazing urgency and potency in the context of issues still affecting women today.’

Druid’s critically acclaimed production of one of the most significant plays of the twentieth century - Beckett’s Waiting for Godot - is on the Abbey stage in April. On a bare road in the middle of nowhere, two world-weary friends await the arrival of the mysterious Godot. ‘We are thrilled to bring Druid back to the Abbey stage and the timing of their amazing Godot in Galway felt like a gift’.

‘A touchstone for many of our conversations and for the season has been collaboration. In an Abbey Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East co-production in association with National Theatre of Scotland, Emma Donoghue is adapting her Man Booker prize, Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning Room for the stage.’

Ma has been locked inside a purpose built room in her captor’s garden for seven years. Her son, Jack, has no concept of the world outside and happily exists inside Room. But the time has come to escape and face their biggest challenge to date: the world outside Room.

Further announcements are due in early 2017 with more details about the programme and a new approach for the Peacock stage - the smaller of the Abbey Theatre’s performance spaces.

Here's the full programme for 2017:

LISTINGS
10 – 25 February
Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival
Arlington
Written and directed by Enda Walsh. Choreographed by Emma Martin.

3 – 11 March
Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival in association with Abbey Theatre
Ballyturk
Written and directed by Enda Walsh.

18 March – 1 April
Abbey Theatre presents Corn Exchange
Dublin by Lamplight
Written by Michael West in collaboration with the company. Directed by Annie Ryan

7 – 15 April
Abbey Theatre presents Rough Magic
The Train
A musical by Arthur Riordan and Bill Whelan. Directed by Lynne Parker

21 April – 20 May
Abbey Theatre presents the Druid production of
Waiting for Godot
Written by Samuel Beckett. Directed by Garry Hynes.

22 – 23 May
Dublin Dance Festival in association with the Abbey Theatre
Sunny
Emmauel Gat / Awir Leon

26 – 27 May
Dublin Dance Festival in association with the Abbey Theatre
Deep Dish
Chris Haring / Liquid Loft

10 – 17 June
An Abbey Theatre and Old Vic co-production
No’s Knife
A selection of Samuel Beckett’s Texts for Nothing. Conceived and performed by Lisa Dwan.

23 June – 22 July
An Abbey Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East co-production in association with National Theatre of Scotland
Room
Written by Emma Donoghue. Directed by Cora Bissett.

28 July – 19 August
Abbey Theatre
Jimmy’s Hall
Adapted from Paul Laverty’s film script. Directed by Graham McLaren.

26 August – 23 September
Abbey Theatre
Katie Roche
Written by Teresa Deevy.

2 – 28 October
Abbey Theatre
Ulysses
Written by James Joyce. Adapted by Dermot Bolger. Directed by Graham McLaren.

18 November – 6 January 2018
Presented by the National Theatre of Scotland by arrangement with Marla Rubin Productions LTD and Bill Kenwright, in association with the Abbey Theatre
Let the Right One In
Based on the novel and film by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne. Directed by John Tiffany.

Performances in pubs across Ireland in 2017.
Abbey Theatre on Tour
Two Pints
Written by Roddy Doyle.