Three plays by the playwright credited with bringing poetic drama back to the Irish stage. Each has a tremendous sense of the beauty and humour to be found in ordinary life, however tragic its immediate circumstances.
Full of brightness and fun, The Only True History of Lizzie Finn (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, October 1995) follows its heroine in her uneasy transition from English seaside music-hall star to Anglo-Irish lady. The Steward of Christendom (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, April 1995) sees Lear-like Thomas Dunne, ex-Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, now in the county home, trying to break free of history and himself. White Woman Street (Bush Theatre, London, April 1992) trails Trooper O'Hara across the plains of Ohio in Easter 1916, as he seeks redemption from his memories in the train of gold.