Three Short Comedies by Seán O’Casey

5 November 2024

Druid Theatre today announced a new Irish tour of Three Short Comedies by Seán O’Casey for spring 2025. The Galway theatre company will visit 11 towns and cities next February and March: Roscommon, Ennis, Tralee, Limerick, Kilkenny, Wexford, Longford, Belfast, Dún Laoghaire and Cork before finishing the tour with a hometown run in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre. Tickets for all tour dates are on sale now.

Three Short Comedies features three hilarious one-act plays by the great Irish playwright, Seán O’Casey. Set in a post office, A Pound on Demand (1939) is the tale of Jerry and Sammy who badly need a quick injection of cash to continue their night on the town. In Bedtime Story (1951), poor John Jo Mulligan learns the hard way that inviting members of the opposite sex to Miss Mossie's lodging house comes with serious consequences. All hell breaks loose in The End of the Beginning (1937) when Darry Berrill and his wife Lizzie agree to swap their household roles - and that's before Darry's clumsy friend Barry arrives.

These short tales of misadventure will be directed by Garry Hynes and performed by a cast of six including Druid ensemble members Marie Mullen, Rory Nolan and Marty Rea, alongside Venetia Bowe, Caitríona Ennis and Liam Heslin.

This new tour continues Druid’s fruitful relationship with the works of Seán O’Casey. They previously toured these classic, rip-roaring one-act plays in 2021 to great acclaim: ‘wildly entertaining’ The Irish Times, ‘brilliant comic timing’ The Guardian, ‘serious slapstick with lashings of laughter’ The Arts Review. Their other recent O’Casey productions include: DruidO’Casey, their five-star play cycle of The Plough and the Stars, The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock, which toured Ireland and America in 2023; and a national tour of The Shadow of a Gunman in the spring of 2024.

Since 1975, Druid have been criss-crossing the country to bring world-class theatre to audiences in their own communities. This upcoming national tour marks the beginning of their 50th anniversary programme in 2025. Further anniversary announcements will follow in the new year.

Garry Hynes, Director of Three Short Comedies and Druid’s Artistic Director: ‘Touring around the country is the lifeblood of Druid so it feels absolutely right for us to begin our 50th year with a national tour, and to be touring with plays by the great Seán O’Casey makes it even better. These three one-act plays are full of farce, biting satire and joyful theatre-craft, performed by a cast of six actors including three members of the much loved Druid Ensemble.’

Three Short Comedies will be produced in Druid’s home city of Galway, with costumes created at the company’s Nuns’ Island Costume Department and sets constructed in its Ballybane Set Workshop, in line with Druid’s commitments to sustainability and local employment.

Image: Rory Nolan and Marty Rea in 'The End of the Beginning' as part of Three Short Comedies by Seán O'Casey, photo by Ste Murray