Jailhouse debut gives playwright captive audience

A PLAYWRIGHT and journalist will have a captive audience when his new play is staged in a prison.

Irish Examiner court reporter Liam Heylin’s dark comedy, Love, Peace and Robbery, will be performed in Cork Prison next month as part of the national tour by Cork’s Meridian Theatre Company.

The play, about petty criminals struggling to break the cycle of crime, was premiered in Cork in 2007. Since then, it has been performed to great acclaim off Broadway in New York and in Washington.

The national tour begins next week at Cork’s Triskel Arts Centre before moving on to Mayo, Limerick, Kilkenny, Co Louth, Dublin, Longford, Roscommon and Tipperary.

Featuring Shane Casey, John Desmond and Aidan O’Hare, the characters are described as “dangerous to know” but also shrewd and witty survivors of a lifetime of self-abuse, now trying to go straight.

The play is part of a double bill featuring two of Meridian Theatre Company’s most successful productions.

The second play: Thailand: What’s love got to do with it?, by Máirtín de Cógáin and Brian Desmond is a unique take on modern Ireland and its contribution to the East Asian tourist economy. Darkly comic, the play features a stunning solo performance from Máirtín de Cógáin.

Both plays are directed by Brian Desmond.

Tickets for the Triskel shows on January 19, 20 and 21 are available from 021 427 2022. Details from www.meridiantheatre.com.