Production history
The play received its world premiere when the Druid Theatre Company[1] opened the production at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway on 1 February 1996. It then toured Ireland, stopping off in Longford, Kilkenny and Limerick. It transferred to London's West End, where it opened at the Royal Court Theatre on 29 February 1996.
The Druid production then returned to Ireland to embark on an extensive national tour, playing in Galway, County Cork, County Kerry, Limerick, County Fermanagh, County Donegal and Derry amongst others. The play returned to London where it was revived at the Duke of York's Theatre on 29 November 1996 for several months.[2]
The play was produced as part of Druid's Leenane Trilogy (which includes two other plays by Martin McDonagh) in 1997 where it played as part of another Irish and UK Tour, which included stops at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin and the Royal Court Theatre in London (July to September 1997) again.[3]
The play received its American premiere opening Off-Broadway on 11 February 1998, presented by the Atlantic Theatre Company at the Linda Gross Theater.[4][5]
It transferred to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway where it opened on 23 April 1998.[6] It received six nominations at the 52nd Tony Awards and won four for: Best Supporting Actor (Tom Murphy); Best Actress (Marie Mullen); Best Supporting Actress (Anna Manahan); and Best Director (Garry Hynes),[6] the first female recipient of a Tony Award for directing a play.
The play was produced in Australia in 1998 and again in 1999. The 1999 production was a tour by the Royal Court Theatre Company, appearing at the Adelaide Festival Centre (May – June 1999) and Wharf 1 (July 1999) and directed by Garry Hynes.[7] The production returned to Ireland in 2000 as part of a final national tour.
A 2001 adaptation was undertaken by The Tron Theatre in Glasgow, starring Anne Marie Timoney as Maureen and directed by Iain Heggie.
2010 London revival
The play was revived in July 2010 at the Young Vic Theatre in the West End, starring Irish actress Rosaleen Linehan.[8] The production transferred to Dublin's Gaiety Theatre where Linehan reprised her role opposite Derbhle Crotty. It then returned to the Young Vic for another run, closing in September 2011.
2016–2017 revival
The Druid Theatre Company presented a revival in 2016–2017. Directed by Garry Hynes, the cast stars Marie Mullen as Mag, Aisling O'Sullivan as Maureen, Aaron Monaghan as Ray and Marty Rea as Pato. The production started in Ireland in Galway at the Town Hall Theatre in September 2016, and then toured to The Everyman, Cork; the Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick; and the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. The play then toured in the US starting in November 2016.[9] The play ran at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California in November 2016.[10] The play opened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York City), running from 11 January 2017 to 5 February.[11] The production returned to Ireland, playing at The Gaiety Theatre; the original run was planned from 28 March to 15 April 2017,[12] but the run was extended to seven months "due to phenomenal demand".[13]
