Project Upstairs, Dublin Previews Mar 5-7 €15 Opens Mar 9-28 7.30pm €25/€20 Sats 3pm €18 01-8819613
Michael Tremblay was born in 1942 in Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec. He grew up in slum-like conditions, raised by six women, to be one of Canada’s foremost writers with a formidable output of novels and plays in French.
Outspokenly gay, his controversial politics – notably in relation to the movement that sought the independence of Quebec – often set him against the establishment; but the force of his work, translated into many languages, established him internationally.
Rough Magic's production offers, in a new translation by Bryan Delaney, the Irish premiere of Solemn Mass for a Full Moon in Summer, inspired by the structure of a choral mass. Eleven people stand on their city balconies and tell stories of guilt, love, grief and heartbreak. Within this ground-breaking fusion of form and style, Tom Creed directs a cast to conjure with, including Cathy Belton, Jane Brennan, Darragh Kelly, Barry McGovern and Diarmuid Noyes (above). Written in 1996, the play still resonates with the unmistakable buzz of creativity.
CAN'T SEE THAT? CATCH THIS: The Real ThingGate Theatre, Dublin
