GIVE ME YOUR HAND to Open at Irish Repertory Theatre, 3/11

Irish Repertory Theatre continues its acclaimed 24th Season with the New York premiere of famed poet Paul Durcan's GIVE ME YOUR HAND, with previews set to begin March 7, prior to an official opening March 11 in Irish Repertory Theatre Company's W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 West 22nd Street). Richard Twyman directs.

In GIVE ME YOUR HAND, Paul Durcan has taken some of the most famous paintings in the world, and interpreted them with his own unique, poetic voice. Two of Ireland's most eminent actors, Dermot Crowley and Dearbhl Molloy, take an imaginative stroll through the National Gallery and re-discover everyone from Van Gogh and Van Eyck, to Rubens and Gainsborough, through the unique prism of the author's imagination.

The production features original music and technical direction by Jamie Beamish; and video filming and editing by Daniel Grixti.

Dermot Crowley made his Broadway debut in Conor McPherson's THE WEIR, for which he received a Drama Desk Award. He returned to Broadway to star in Garry Hynes' production of Brian Friel's TRANSLATIONS, and sang Joxer in her production of JUNO for City Centre New York. Other US theatre credits include: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, starring as Scrooge, for Princeton's McCarter Theatre; DEALER'S CHOICE (Manhattan Theatre Club) and the National tour of Martin McDonagh's THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, for which he has been nominated Best Featured Actor by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. He has worked extensively at the National Theatre in London, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The West End, The Royal Court, Hampstead Theatre (Time Out Best Actor Award), The Gate and The Abbey Theatres in Ireland. In film, he has worked with some of the great Hollywood directors, including Robert Redford in "The Legend of Bagger Vance," Blake Edwards in "Son of the Pink Panther," and Alejandro Gonzales Inaritu in "Babel." Other films include "Octopussy," "Little Dorrit," "Before You Go," "Giro City," and the iconic "Return of the Jedi" from the "Star Wars" series. His comprehensive television career ranges from "Falling for a Dancer" to "Bleak House." He has starred in "Poirot," "MI5," "Midsomer Murders," and he currently stars as Schenk in BBC/America's Golden Globe-winning drama "Luther."

Dearbhla Molloy earned a Tony nomination for her performance in Brian Friel's DANCING AT LUGHNASA and was most recently seen Off-Broadway in the Drama Desk Award-winning THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, a role she reprised in the National tour. Other New York credits include JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK and A TOUCH OF THE POET, both for Roundabout. Ms. Molloy has worked consistently in theatre, film and television for forty years. West End credits include ARCADIA, IN CELEBRATION with Orlando Bloom, JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, HAMLET, AS YOU LIKE IT, ON THE LEDGE and HINTERLAND (NT) and more recently DOUBT (Tricycle), DITCH (Old Vic Tunnels), and NEVER MORE SHALL WE PART (Hampstead Theatre). She has just played Beatrice in MUCH ADO at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Awards: 2 Drama Desk Awards, Theatre World Special Award,
London Critics Award, 2 Irish Theatre Awards, Audie Award. Nominations: Tony Award, Royal Television Society Award, Independent Film and Television Award, Irish Theatre Award, Grammy Award. She is an Associate Artist of The Abbey Theatre The National Theatre of Ireland.

Paul Durcan was born in Dublin of Mayo parents in 1944. His first book, Endsville (1967), has been followed by twenty-two others, including O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor (1975), The Berlin
Wall Café (a Poetry Book Society Choice in 1985), Daddy, Daddy (winner of the Whitbread Award for Poetry in 1990), Crazy About Women (1991), A Snail in My Prime (1993), Give Me Your Hand (1994), Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil (1999), The Art of Life (2004), The Laughter of Mothers (2007), Life Is a Dream: 40 Years Reading Poems (2009) and Praise in which I Live and Move and Have My Being (2012). In 1974, Paul Durcan received the Patrick Kavanagh Award and, in 2001, a Cholmondeley Award. He was Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2004 to 2007. He was conferred with a D.Litt by Trinity College Dublin in 2009 and by University College Dublin in 2011. He is a member of Aosdana.

Director Richard Twyman's credits include HENRY IV PT II for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s HISTORIES CYCLE, which won three Olivier Awards, the Evening Standard’s Editor’s Choice Award, and was named by critic Michael Billington (The Guardian) as his "Production of the Decade, 2000-2010." Other directing credits include DITCH (Old Vic); THE DJINNS OF EIDGAH (Royal Court/Rage Theatre Mumbai); DR. MARIGOLD & MR. CHOPS (Theatre Royal Bath & National Tour); and SIXTY-SIX BOOKS (Bush Theatre). He has worked extensively as a director/associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre London, Royal Court, Gate Theatre & York Theatre Royal.

Co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, The Irish Repertory Theatre opened its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS. The mission of the theatre was and remains to bring works by Irish and Irish American masters and contemporary playwrights to American audiences; to provide a context for understanding the contemporary Irish American experience; and to encourage the development of new works focusing on the Irish and Irish American experience, as well as a range of other cultures. Ms. Moore and Mr. O'Reilly recently received the 2011 Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award from Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc.

GIVE ME YOUR HAND is presented with the support of Culture Ireland.

Playing on the Irish Repertory Theatre's mainstage, with previews set to begin February 15, prior to an official press opening on February 26, is Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama BEYOND THE HORIZON, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly.

Performances of GIVE ME YOUR HAND run March 7-April 1 at The Irish Repertory Theatre Company's W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 West 22nd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues): Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm; plus 3pm matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $30, and are available by calling 212-727-2737 or online at www.irishrep.org.

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