PRODUCED PLAY:
Continuity (World Premiere, Finborough Theatre, short run 2017; Part 1 of a ‘Troubles Trilogy’)
PÁDRAIG DEVLIN is a dissident Irish Republican, who begins to have doubts about his commitment to The Cause after he meets and falls in love with a woman from Barcelona. Soon after meeting her, PÁDRAIG botches three assignments in a row. The other members of his terrorist cell decide to test the love-struck PÁDRAIG’S commitment. Has falling in love really weakened the resolve of a man determined to re-ignite the struggle for Irish freedom, and whose Republican credentials are beyond reproach? And just exactly what kind of test do they plan to set him? And how will PÁDRAIG react when he discovers that he’s being tested? (Click here for a review in The Guardian and/or click here to watch CONTINUITY now - free!)
What the reviewers said about CONTINUITY:
CONTINUITY received fantastic reviews including a review in The New York Times and an Offie Nomination for Best Male.
Here are some of the reactions:
★★★★★ Five Stars, Morning Star
★★★★★ Five Stars, The Upcoming
★★★★ Four Stars, London Theatre 1
★★★★ Four Stars, Everything Theatre
★★★★ Four Stars, Prestridge2
★★★★ Four Stars, Stage Review
“...you do not know whether to feel reassured — or alarmed.”
The New York Times.
“A virtuosic male performance”
The New York Times.
“An Irish tour de force. Unmissable theatre….”
Jeff Prestridge, Prestridge2
“Gerry Moynihan’s brilliant new play… A stunning debut from a brand new playwright.” Paddy Briggs, London Theatre1
“Gerry Moynihan’s raw and passionate monologue.”
Mersa Auda, The Upcoming
“ONE superb actor, two chairs and a script with immeasurable depth.”
Mayer Wakefield, Morning Star
“It is powerful powder keg material from the pen of Moynihan.”
Jeff Prestridge, Prestridge2
“Moynihan’s monologue – which had its first reading at the Finborough Theatre’s Vibrant festival last year – is leavened with laconic humour and naturally flowing Irish idiom.”
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage
“75 minutes of superb acting and writing.”
Rob Warren, Everything Theatre
“Compelling and intense, this modern play evokes the great classical tragedies and manages to engage with more force than many productions with a higher profile.”
Mersa Auda, The Upcoming
“As commanding and riveting a performance as you will see all summer on the stage, West End or fringe.”
Jeff Prestridge, Prestridge2
“A gripping experience under the direction of Shane Dempsey.”
Mersa Auda, The Upcoming
UNPRODUCED PLAYS:
Legacy (#DruidDebut via Druid Theatre New Writing Programme - Public Reading at Galway International Arts Festival 2023 from over 500 submissions; Part 2 of a ‘Troubles Trilogy’)
CORMAC MCCUSKER believes that his Da was an IRA hero who died for Irish freedom but when two brutal murders occur and he discovers that he is next on the murderer’s list it soon becomes clear that his Da might not have been all that CORMAC believed him to be. Set in Tyrone in the very recent past Legacy is a tense thriller about the difficulty in confronting uncomfortable truths about the past.
Reconciliation (Part 3 of a ‘Troubles Trilogy’ - work in progress)
It’s 1989 and whilst TADHG O’NEIL is agonising over asking his girlfriend to get engaged she is murdered in a hit and run style paramilitary gun attack on the pub they are both drinking in. Consumed with grief and an ever burgeoning rage TADHG randomly kills a Protestant. He is sent to prison but is eventually released under the Good Friday Agreement. Fast forward to the present day and a middle-aged TADHG, wracked with remorse, is seeking desperately to atone for what he has done. But after what TADHG has done is redemption ever really possible? Can the need for redemption ever be reconciled with the seeming impossibility of redemption?
Soldier Doll
It’s the height of the troubles and a young rebellious small town Catholic girl, URSULA McCANN, who yearns for excitement and escape from her dull factory job, is in danger of alienating her local community because of her recent passionate embrace of punk rock. On a night out in a local pub she bumps into the cool looking DUANE BAILEY, an off-duty soldier who is also a lover of punk music. URSULA enters into a passionate relationship with DUANE finally transgressing a boundary that is absolutely not tolerated and when the relationship is ‘discovered’ the wrath of her ‘friends’ and community is unleashed; but what kind of punishment will be meted out to URSULA? Is she destined to become nothing more than a 'sacrificial lamb' for a community who can't bear to witness her disreputable fall from grace? Or will she have enough punk passion and fight in her to prove that she is so much more than just a mere Soldier Doll.
The Woman With A Wee Want
One night a strange woman who goes under the name of CAILLEACH ÓG arrives into a pub in Bally Briocht on the west coast of Ireland. Soon after, a murder occurs and the finger of suspicion points toward pub owner DÁITHÍ Ó DOMHNAILL, well known to be the sworn enemy of the dead man. For his part, DÁITHÍ tries to blame CAILLEACH insisting that she has “a wee want about her” and has brought "bad luck" to Bally Briocht; but perhaps he is just looking for a handy scapegoat? However, just who exactly is CAILLEACH ÓG, whom DÁITHÍ insists has a wee want and just what is it precisely that she does want? In The Woman With A Wee Want myth and reality clash in the West of Ireland and all is not quite what it seems as fact blends with fiction to create a mystery that perhaps may never be solved as CAILLEACH ÓG confounds all and sundry with her puzzling stories and explanations that seem completely at odds with reality. But in the end surely there must be a logical explanation so that the real murderer can finally be brought to justice?
Simulacrum
ALEX FREEMAN is an ambitious, narcissistic, property developer, landlord and wannabe politician who falls for one of his tenants; but when his rather awkward attempts at expressing his somewhat misplaced love are spurned, his tenant must pay the price. However things don’t go according to plan and to his astonishment he finds there’s a rather shocking surprise in store for him. Simulacrum focus’s on the idea of the narcissistic personality while examining themes of image and reality, money and greed, power and control, relationships and manipulation, highlighting how one man’s skewed view of reality, largely informed by his upbringing, can be inflicted on the many to the detriment of all, if allowed to thrive unchecked.
The Hood (work in progress)
Lovable young rogue DECLAN ‘DECKIE’ DONNELLY is accused by the paramilitaries of being ‘a hood’ and is banished from Northern Ireland to England upon pain of execution should he ever return. Exiled to a country that he was brought up to despise he nevertheless tentatively begins to build a new life in London with some trepidation. However, one day, years later, he finds out that the masked man who banished him was in fact an old adversary, who feigned being a paramilitary because he wanted DECKIE out of the town for his own nefarious reasons. Now DECKIE returns to his hometown determined to find out the truth of why he was driven out in the first place. It’s time to find out not just who the real hood is; but where the real home is. The Hood is a story of exile and homesickness, of love, loss and betrayal, of the search for belonging and the need for a home and of finally realising that ‘home’ can be anywhere you find true love and friendship rather than merely the place and circumstances you’re born into.