Decadent Theatre Company to Present 18-Venue Irish Tour Of Donal Ryan's FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA

Decadent Theatre Company and Galway Arts Centre will present a major national tour of From a Low and Quiet Sea, adapted for the stage from Donal Ryan's Booker Prize nominated novel. It will crisscross to 18 venues from 4 May through to 10 June 2023.

The world premiere in the 2022 Galway International Arts Festival garnered critical praise with Emer O'Kelly of the Sunday Independent saying, "It is not very often that four demanding and intense roles come together with absolute perfection, but they do in this production. Not a moment, a nuance, a gesture is less than perfect throughout, as each of the characters in turn drag the heart from your body... This play will haunt you."

The adaptation of Ryan's acclaimed novel is a collaboration between the author, the original cast, and Decadent Theatre Company's Artistic Director, Andrew Flynn, who also directs. See www.decadenttheatrecompany.ie for venue and booking information.

The mother, the refugee, the penitent, the dreamer. From a Low and Quiet Sea is a carefully crafted portrait of the intersecting lives of four characters, each searching for a version of home. From war-torn Syria to small-town Ireland, they are scarred by all they have loved and lost. They are drawn towards a powerful reckoning, one that will bring them together in the most unexpected of ways.

Aosaf Afzal [Farouk] and Darragh O'Toole [Lampy] will reprise their roles from last year's production. Denis Conway, currently seen in Hangmen, has joined the cast as John and Eva Bartley will play Florence.

Both natives of Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Andrew Flynn and Donal Ryan have form as creative collaborators. Flynn [along with Jarlath Tivan] adapted Ryan's novel, The Thing About December, for the stage in 2019.

Ryan is the author of six best-selling novels, most recently The Queen of Dirt Island [2022], and a short story collection. His debut novel, The Spinning Heart [2013], was also nominated for the Man Booker Prize and was voted Irish Book of the Decade in 2016 in a nationwide poll run by Dublin Book Festival. His many awards include the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award, and three Irish Book Awards.

His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

Andrew Flynn has been Artistic Director of Decadent Theatre Company since 2000. One of Ireland's busiest directors, he is currently preparing for the Irish premiere of Martin McDonagh's Hangmen, which is a co-production between Decadent and Gaiety Productions running in Dublin and Galway from 11 March to 15 April. Andrew's most recent directorial work for Decadent includes the Autumn 2022 tour of Jimmy Murphy's The Chief and the Spring 2022 tour of David Harrower's Blackbird.

Flynn's other work includes Eden; A Love Like That; The Thing About December; Pumpgirl; Port Authority; The Mai; A Skull in Connemara; Someone Who'll Watch Over Me; Wit; and for Gaiety Productions, Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Lonesome West.

Andrew Flynn and Donal Ryan were recipients of a 2021 Elevate bursary grant to adapt and workshop the script of From a Low and Quiet Sea.

Decadent Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the support of the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon; Galway County Council.

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