Stephen Rea Returns to the Public Theater In CYPRUS AVENUE

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) will present The Abbey Theatre and The Royal Court Theatre's acclaimed 2016 production of CYPRUS AVENUE, a new play written by David Ireland and directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone, featuring Stephen Rea, who last performed at The Public in 2008 in Sam Shepard's Kicking a Dead Horse. Following encore engagements at Dublin's Peacock Stage at The Abbey Theatre (April 30-May 19) and the MAC in Belfast (May 23-26), CYPRUS AVENUE will begin previews for a limited eight-week run on Saturday, June 2 and run through Sunday, July 29 in The Public's LuEsther Hall, with an official press opening on Monday, June 25.

"Cyprus Avenue is a scathingly funny and horrifyingly entertaining look at bigotry gone mad," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Anchored by Stephen Rea's tour de force performance, this play may take place in Ireland, but it speaks to the heart of America. The Public is proud to continue our long-standing relationships with The Abbey Theatre in Dublin and the Royal Court in London, two of the finest theaters in the world, with this production of Cyprus Avenue."

"The Abbey Theatre is thrilled to be bringing to The Public Theater its co-production with London's Royal Court Theatre of David Ireland's explosively funny and provocative, Cyprus Avenue," said Abbey Theatre Directors Graham McLaren and Neil Murray. "As Britain's relationship with Ireland and its borders falls under ever increasing, post-Brexit scrutiny, its return could not be more timely."

In addition to Stephen Rea as Eric, the cast of CYPRUS AVENUE will feature original cast members Chris Corrigan (Slim) and Amy Molloy (Julie). Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

CYPRUS AVENUE is David Ireland's subversively funny and savage new play about one man trying to make sense of a radically changed world. Eric Miller (Stephen Rea) is a Belfast Unionist. He is exclusively and non-negotiably British. But nowadays he is worried he might be Irish. When Eric sees a likeness between his new-born granddaughter and the Irish republican leader, Gerry Adams, his sanity starts to unravel. Determined to defend his family and his heritage, Eric's lifetime of ingrained prejudice and unsettled identity push him to the edge.

The performances of Cyprus Avenue at The Public Theater have been supported by Culture Ireland.

DAVID IRELAND (Playwright)'s plays include What The Animals Say (Oran Mor, Glasgow), Everything Between Us (Tinderbox), The End Of Hope (Oran Mor), Yes So I Said Yes (Ransom), Most Favoured (Traverse, Edinburgh/Oran Mor), Can't Forget About You (Lyric, Belfast) and Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court/Abbey). He was Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric, Belfast from 2011-12. Everything Between Us won the Meyer-Whitworth Award in 2011. Cyprus Avenue won the Irish Times Award for Best New Play and the James Tait Black Prize for Drama in 2017. He is currently working on new plays for the Royal Court, the Abbey, and the Traverse and has various screen projects in development.

Vicky Featherstone (Director) has directed for the Royal Court: Gundog, My Mum's a Twat, Bad Roads, Victory Condition, X, Cyprus Avenue (and Abbey/Dublin), How to Hold Your Breath, God Bless the Child, Maidan: Voices from the Uprising, The Mistress Contract, The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, Untitled Matriarch Play, The President Has Come to See You (Open Court Weekly Rep). Her other theater includes What if Women Ruled the World? (Manchester International Festival); Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (also National/West End/International tour); Enquirer (Co-director); An Appointment With the Wicker Man, 27, The Wheel, Somersaults, Wall of Death: A Way of Life (Co-director); The Miracle Man, Empty, Long Gone Lonesome (National Theatre of Scotland); Cockroach (National Theatre of Scotland/Traverse); 365 (National Theatre of Scotland/Edinburgh International Festival); Mary Stuart (National Theatre of Scotland/Citizens/Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh); The Wolves in the Walls (Co-director) (National Theatre of Scotland/Tramway/Lyric, Hammersmith/UK tour/New Victory, NYC); The Small Things, Pyrenees, On Blindness, The Drowned World, Tiny Dynamite, Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco, Splendour, Riddance, The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union, Crave (Paines Plough). Her television credits include "Where the Heart Is," "Silent Witness." Featherstone was Artistic Director of Paines Plough from 1997-2005 and the inaugural Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland from 2005-2012. She is the Artistic Director of the Royal Court.

Stephen Rea (Eric) began his career at The Abbey Theatre before moving to London. His most recent appearance at the Abbey was in Ages of the Moon by Sam Shepard (also in New York and London). His first theatre role in London was as Tommy Owens in The Shadow of a Gunman with Jack McGowran at The Mermaid Theatre. He worked extensively at the National Theatre and the Royal Court where he worked with Samuel Beckett on Endgame. He was a founder member of Field Day Theatre Company with Brian Friel. His films include Nothing Personal, Ondine, Stuck, Sisters, Sixty Six, Till Death, V for Vendetta, Breakfast on Pluto, The River Queen, The Good Shepherd, Control, The Halo Effect, Ulysses, The I Inside, Evelyn, FearDotCom, The Musketeer, The End of the Affair, Guinevere, Still Crazy, In Dreams, The Butcher Boy, Fever Pitch, The Last of the High Kings, Trojan Eddie, Michael Collins, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, All Men Are Mortal, Prêt a Porter, Interview with a Vampire, Princess Caraboo, Angie, Bad Behaviour, The Crying Game, Life is Sweet, The Doctor and the Devils, The House, The Company of Wolves, Loose Connections and Angel. Rea received an Oscar nomination and BAFTA nomination for The Crying Game and a Tony Award nomination for Someone Who'll Watch Over Me.

Inspired by the revolutionary ideals of its founders and its rich canon of Irish dramatic writing, The Abbey Theatre's Mission is to imaginatively engage with all of Irish society through the production of ambitious, courageous and new theatre in all its forms. The Abbey Theatre commits to lead in the telling of the whole Irish story, in English and in Irish, and affirms that it is a theatre for the entire island of Ireland and all its people. In every endeavour, The Abbey Theatre promotes inclusiveness, diversity and equality.

The Royal Court Theatre is the writers' theatre. It is the leading force in world theatre for energetically cultivating writers - undiscovered, emerging and established. Through the writers, the Royal Court is at the forefront of creating restless, alert, provocative theatre about now. We open our doors to the unheard voices and free thinkers that, through their writing, change our way of seeing. Over 120,000 people visit the Royal Court in Sloane Square, London, each year and many thousands more see our work elsewhere through transfers to the West End and New York, UK and international tours, digital platforms, our residencies across London, and our site-specific work. Through all our work we strive to inspire audiences and influence future writers with radical thinking and provocative discussion. The Royal Court's extensive development activity encompasses a diverse range of writers and artists and includes an ongoing programme of writers' attachments, readings, workshops and playwriting groups. Twenty years of the International Department's pioneering work around the world means the Royal Court has relationships with writers on every continent. Within the past sixty years, John Osborne, Samuel Beckett, Arnold Wesker, Ann Jellicoe, Howard Brenton, David Hare have started their careers at the Court. Many others including Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, debbie tucker green, Sarah Kane, and, more recently, Lucy Kirkwood, Nick Payne, Penelope Skinner and Alistair McDowall, have followed. The Royal Court has produced many iconic plays from Laura Wade's Posh to Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem and Martin McDonagh's Hangmen. Royal Court plays from every decade are now performed on stage and taught in classrooms and universities across the globe. It is because of this commitment to the writer that we believe there is no more important theatre in the world than the Royal Court.www.royalcourttheatre.com

The Public is theater of, by, and for the people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.