Peacock Theatre, Dublin Previews Feb 24-Mar 2 Opens Mar 3-Apr 4 8pm Sats 2.30pm 18/22/15 01-8787222

Sam Shepard’s multifaceted career speaks for itself, mostly through a plethora of extraordinary plays. Shepard has been a major force in American theatre since he began to write, and his work has sounded a universal chord that made it internationally accessible.

It has been said that Shepard writes of good and evil where the borders overlap; and he has also created a terrain where the past co-exists with the present, especially in the modern American west.

The Abbey Theatre has struck up a close relationship with Shepard in recent years, mounting absorbing productions of, most recently, the world premiere of Kicking a Dead Horsein 2007. This was not a universal success, although it intrigued critics mightily; one perceptive comment was that it could be the start of the play Shepard has been preparing to write all his life. His latest work is about to open at The Peacock, with Sean McGinley and Stephen Rea (pictured above), directed by Jimmy Fay. Get ready to rumble.

CAN’T SEE THAT? CATCH THIS

King LearHelix, Dublin