Photo Flash: Tricycle Theater Presents LAY ME DOWN SOFTLY

Billy Roche has written, and will direct Lay Me Down Softly at the Tricycle Theatre from 11 July to 6 August, with press night on 12 July. Presented by Mosshouse in association with Wexford Arts Centre, the production was first commissioned and premiered at Abbey Theatre in 2008, before this new production with Billy Roche directing premiered at Wexford Arts Centre in 2010 followed by a national tour in 2011. Lay Me Down Softly has design by Bui Bolg, lighting design by Paul Keogan and sound and AV design by Mick Egan.

The production returns with previous cast members Gary Lydon, Michael O'Hagan, Pagan McGrath, Anthony Morris, Dermot Murphy, alongside newcomer Simone Kirby.
Roll-up, roll-up, and enter the shady world of Delaney's Travelling Roadshow. Step inside the boxing ring... smell it, sense it, feel it. And somewhere between the fights and the fortune-tellers, the bookies and the bloodshed, rub shoulders with its wayward wards. Set in rural Ireland in the early 60s, Lay Me Down Softly takes us inside the darkly comic and colourful world of the old travelling carnival.

Billy Roche is a singer, writer, director and actor. His first novel Tumbling Down was published in 1986, with his first play The Boker Poker Club following two years later, playing first at Wexford Arts Centre before becoming A Handful of Stars, staged at The Bush Theatre in 1988. His play Poor Beast In The Rain followed in 1990. The third, Belfry completed the trilogy at the Bush, which later became known as the Wexford Trilogy, performed together at The Tricycle, The Bush Theatre, The Peacock Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Wexford. It was consequently filmed for the BBC. It was followed by Amphibians, commissioned by the RSC and performed at the Barbican, The Cavalcaders at The Tricycle, The Peacock and The Royal Court Theatre, On Such As We at the Peacock Theatre and Tales From Rainwater Pond; a collection of short stories read by Roche himself which went on a successful tour in Ireland and the US. He wrote the screenplay for Trojan Eddie, which won the Best Film Award at The San Sebastian Film Festival in 1996 and co-wrote the screenplay for Eclipse with Conor McPherson based on a story from the Tales From Rainwater collection. This went on to win best Irish screenplay and film award (IFTA) in Ireland and the TriBeCa film award in New York. As an actor his stage credits include A Handful of Stars at the Bush Theatre, Aristocrats at Hampstead Theatre, The Cavalcaders at The Tricycle, The Peacock Theatre and Royal Court Theatre and on screen; Trojan Eddie, Saltwater and The Bill.

Gary Lydon was previously at the Tricycle Theatre in The Wexford Trilogy. His other London stage credits include The Walls and Cripple of Inishmann at The National Theatre and the three separate trilogy plays Belfy, Poor Beast In The Rain and A Handful of Stars at the Bush Theatre. Stage credits in Ireland include Tinkers Wedding & Well Of The Saints and Playboy of the Western World at Druid Theatre, Galway, Sive at Dublin Gaiety Theatre and A Whistle In The Dark at The Abbey Theatre. He is well known on television as PatRick Murray in Irish series The Clinic.

Michael O'Hagan was also previously on stage at the Tricycle in The Wexford Trilogy as well as John Bull's Other Island and Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry. His other stage credits include The Murderers at The National Theatre, Coriolanus at the Young Vic, Three Sisters at Whitehall Theatre, When Five Year's Pass at the Arcola, Othello and Romeo & Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe. His film credits include End Of Days, Gods and Monsters, Speed 2 and Midnight in The Garden of God and Evil and on television EastEnders, Coronation Street, The Darling Buds of May and Startrek - Enterprise.

Simone Kirby's theatre credits include Loves Labour's Lost at Shakespeare's Globe, Dancing At Lughnasa at The Old Vic Theatre, Festen at The Gate Theatre and The School for Scandal at The Abbey Theatre.

Pagan McGrath's previous stage credits include Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, This Is A Chair and Once a Catholic, all for the County Wexford Youth Theatre.

Anthony Morris's previous stage credits include The Belfry for Livin Dred, Stetching Lary at The Plough Upstairs, Spartacus, Back To Black and War of the Roses for Whiplash and Whereabouts for Fishamble. Screen credits include Adam & Paul and Rough Diamond.

Dermot Murphy's previous stage credits include Amphibians at Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Godspell at the Theatre Royal, Wexford and The Lords of Love at Wexford Arts Centre.

Address Tricycle Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR
Phone 020 7328 1000
In person 10am - 9pm Monday - Saturday, 2 - 9pm on Sundays
Online www.tricycle.co.uk
Tickets £12 Mon 8pm and midweek mats at 2pm
£18 Tues - Fri 8pm & Sat mats at 4pm
£22 Saturdays at 8pm

Performances Lay Me Down Softly 11 July - 6 August
Monday - Saturday at 8pm
Saturday mats at 4pm
Press Night - 12 July at 7pm
Midweek mats Wed 20, 27 July

CAFÉ-BAR
The Tricycle Café (serving food) is open from 12noon to 8pm Mondays to Fridays and 10am - 8pm on Saturdays. The Tricycle Bar (serving drinks and snacks) is open from 12 noon Mondays to Fridays & from 10.30am Saturdays & closes at 11pm Mondays to Saturdays. On Sundays the Bar is open 3pm - 9pm.
TRANSPORT

Tube: Kilburn (Jubilee Line)
Bus: 16, 31, 32, 98, 189, 206, 316, 328
Train: Brondesbury (London overground)

Photo Credit: Andrew Downes

Michael O'Hagan

Gary Lydon and Simone Kirby

Simone Kirby

Dermot Murphy, Simone Kirby and Pagan McGrath

Dermot Murphy and Michael O'Hagan

Gary Lydon