GIRL ON AN ALTAR Comes to the Abbey Theatre

What do you do in a marriage when you can't stay and you can't go, as love finds a way to persist despite the direst of circumstances? This is a fundamental question, to which there is no right answer, of Irish playwright, Marina Carr's Girl on an Altar. This dramatically powerful portrait of a marriage ripped apart will explode onto the Abbey stage this summer, opening on Wednesday, 12th July 2023. Previews are from Saturday, 8th July and the production will run until Saturday, 19th August. Tickets go on sale from the Abbey Theatre box office and website today, Thursday, 13th April.

Presented in a co-production with Kiln Theatre in London, the play had its world premiere at Kiln last year, to critical acclaim. This Irish debut sees the powerful reunion of three Irish theatre-makers, who are working at the highest levels of their respective practices: writer and Senior Associate Playwright at the Abbey Theatre, Marina Carr; director, Annabelle Comyn and actor, Eileen Walsh.

"Did no one ever tell you the sweetest revenge is to forgive?"

For Girl on an Altar, Marina Carr takes the Agamemnon from Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy as her inspiration, presenting an intimate portrait of a once unbreakable couple, who can't bring themselves to forgive the past, but can't live without each other.

A drunk and volatile coalescence of love, grief and power produces tension, distrust and passion of the highest temperature, as the relationship between Clytemnestra and Agamemnon plays out in ways no husband and wife, or mother and father, could possibly imagine - or ever wish to.

Commenting on the announcement, director Annabelle Comyn said: "You haven't been tested the way I've been tested." Girl on an Altar approaches an ancient story with fresh eyes. It asks the audience to look at both sides of a marriage that has fallen apart and to explore the idea of how far love can be tested. The play is a potent combination of love, desire, hate and pain. Two people, married since childhood, are addicted to one other despite an unforgettable act - the sacrifice of their daughter. Their passion is raw and angry with a desire undercut by a pain that can't be buried."

Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham added: "Marina's new play is one that I have been passionate about, it brilliantly gives us a modern and fresh perspective on the marriage between Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. We are honoured to have worked with the Abbey Theatre to bring the play to both London and now Irish audiences."

For more information, visit abbeytheatre.ie.

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