English Touring Theatre Sets 2018 Dates for Extended Tour of Conor McPherson's THE WEIR

English Touring Theatre today announces additional tour dates of their production of Conor McPherson's Olivier Award-winning play The Weir, co-produced with Mercury Theatre Colchester.

Following the success of the play's current run, English Touring Theatre have extended the tour into 2018, beginning on 23 January at the Lowry Theatre in Salford before touring to the Minerva Theatre, Chichester; Theatr Clwyd, Mold; Kings Theatre, Edinburgh and Richmond Theatre, London before completing its run at Cambridge Arts Theatre in March.

The full cast - Louis Dempsey (Finbar), Sean Murray (Jack), John O'Dowd (Jim), Sam O'Mahony (Brendan) and Natalie Radmall-Quirke (Valerie) - are returning for the tour which forms part of the ETT's 25th anniversary season. Full details of the season will be announced shortly.

In a small Irish town, the locals exchange stories round the crackling fire of Brendan's pub to while away the hours one stormy night. As the beer and whisky flows, the arrival of a young stranger, haunted by a secret from her past, turns the tales of folklore into something more unsettling. One story, however, is more chilling and more real than any of them could have ever imagined.

A shadowy tale delving into the dark corners of human lives, The Weir is a co-production between English Touring Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Conor McPherson is a playwright and screenwriter. He has won several awards including the George Devine Award, Stewart Parker Award and an Olivier Award. His credits for theatre include The Veil (National Theatre), The Dance of Death (Trafalgar Studios), The Night Alive (Donmar Warehouse, Atlantic Theater, New York) and The Girl from the North Country (Old Vic). For film, his credits include The Eclipse and Strangers and his television work includes Paula. He is currently working on the screenplay Double Cross.

Louis Dempsey plays Finbar. His theatre credits include Stones in His Pockets (Vienna's English Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare's Globe), Juno and the Paycock (Liverpool Everyman/Bristol Old Vic Co-Production), The Seafarer (Perth Theatre and Lyric Belfast), Some Voices (Young Vic), Wing And A Prayer (BAC), Last Apache Reunion (The Tobacco Factory) and Brothers Of The Brush (Liverpool Everyman). Television credits include Dream Team, Sea Of Souls, Omagh and The Bench. For film, his credits include Us and Them, Legend, Cloud Atlas, Grabbers, Six Bullets, Revolver, The Last Drop, Spivs, Troy and Shooters.

Sean Murray plays Jack. Credits for theatre include, A Tale of Two Cities (Royal & Derngate, Northampton and UK tour), The Hook (Royal & Derngate, Northampton), The Armour (Defibrillator at the Langham Hotel), Holy Warriors (Shakespeare's Globe), The Double and The Tempest (Theatre Royal, Bath), Romeo and Juliet and The Importance of Being Earnest (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), Othello, The Comedy of Errors, Tartuffe, School for Scandal, The Rivals and The Life of Galileo (Bristol Old Vic), A Woman Killed with Kindness, The Phoenician Women, Romeo and Juliet and Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Cherry Orchard (RSC), Jane Eyre (The Ambassadors Theatre, Trafalgar Studios 1), The Terrible Voice of Satan (Royal Court), The Crucible (UK tour) and Buried Child (National Theatre). Television credits include Robin Hood, Dunkirk, Without Motive and Berkeley Square. Film credits include Hamlet, A Rather English Marriage and Finding Mallory. Regular appearances on BBC Radio 4.

John O'Dowd plays Jim. His theatre credits include Common (National Theatre), Stonebreaker (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith), The Head of Red O Brien (Truewest), For The Birds (New York Fringe). Television credits include Moone Boy 1,2 & 3, Don't You Know Who I Am, Capturing Santa, The Rahilly, Single Handed, Maru and Mobs Mheiricea. Film credits include Jimmys Hall and Don't You Know Who I Am.

Sam O'Mahony plays Brendan. His theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice and The Mariner (Gate Theatre, Dublin), The Silver Tassie (National Theatre), Oh What A Lovely War (Northern Stage), The Good Soul Of Szechuan (Young Vic), Monged (Belgrade Coventry), King John, Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet (RSC). Television credits include Guilt and X Company.

Natalie Radmall-Quirke plays Valerie. Her theatre credits include The Winter's Tale (Cheek by Jowl), Martyr (Actors Touring Company), The Playboy of the Western World (Southwark Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet, Celebration and Jane Eyre (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Twelfth Night, No Romance, The Plough and the Stars, The Comedy of Errors, An Ideal Husband (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Steel Magnolias (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin), Mud (Gate Theatre, London), I Witness (Finborough Theatre), Footfalls (Players Theatre) and Crave (Samuel Beckett Centre and Studiobühne, Cologne). Film credits include Davin and The Canal.

Adele Thomas directs. Her previous directing credits include Thomas Tallis, The Oresteia and The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Shakespeare's Globe), Unusual Unions (Royal Court), The Bloody Ballad of Mary Maid (Soho Theatre, UK tour), Apparitions of Spirits - With The Forsyte Sisters (Gagglebabble, Theatr Iolo), Write Here (Traverse Theatre), My People (National Theatre of Wales), The Blue Lenses and Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate, Northampton), Cityscape: Deluge/No Vacancies, The Push and the Pull and An Enemy For The People (Sherman Cymru). Her opera work includes Cosi Fan Tutte (Northern Ireland Opera) and Senendd (Welsh National Opera).

English Touring Theatre is one of the UK's most successful and influential touring companies, winning the UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production in 2014, 2015 & 2016. The company works with leading artists to stage an eclectic mix of new and classic work for audiences throughout the UK and overseas; theatre that is thrilling, popular and engaged in the contemporary world. At the heart of everything ETT does is the passionately held belief that everyone, wherever they are in the country, deserves to have access to the very best theatre. In 2017 ETT toured to 40 venues throughout the UK. The company's co-production of Othello, with Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, ran at Wilton's Music Hall in May and Sam Holcroft's Rules for Living and Conor McPherson's The Weir toured nationwide in the Autumn. For more information, visit www.ett.org.uk.

The Mercury Theatre Colchester is the most active producing theatre in East Anglia, and is a vital centre of excellence in the East's growing creative economy. The Mercury exists to put theatre at the heart of the community it serves and to make work in Colchester that reaches audiences and generates critical attention regionally and nationally. Go to www.mercurytheatre.co.uk.

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

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