written and directed by Enda Walsh
starring Clare Barrett, Aoife Duffin and Domhnall Gleeson, with Sean CarpioLandmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival
Following a work–in–progress showing at Galway International Arts Festival’s Autumn Edition in September 2020, this new play by Enda Walsh will now premiere at GIAF in September 2021. Medicine is a devastatingly funny and moving meditation on how, for decades, we have treated those we call mentally ill.
How long have you been here, John?
I don’t know.
And what brought you here?
That’s difficult to answer.
The stage directions say that the audience will be looking at a rehearsal space or perhaps a sound stage, a studio of some sort. Maybe it’s just a stage in a theatre. A man called John Kane is sitting on a hospital gurney, and very shortly a jazz percussionist, two women called Mary, a very old man and a giant lobster will arrive.
Then everything will start.
The sensational cast starring Clare Barrett, Aoife Duffin and Domhnall Gleeson, is accompanied by Sean Carpio as Enda Walsh once again shines a light on the darkest corners of our collective stories. Working with his regular team of world–class collaborators – designers Jamie Vartan [set], Adam Silverman [lighting], Helen Atkinson [sound], Joan O’Clery [costume] and composer Teho Teardo.
Enda Walsh’s recent work includes the musical Sing Street; the stage adaptation of Max Porter’s book Grief is the Thing with Feathers; The Same; The Second Violinist, an opera with Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy; the musical Lazarus, written with David Bowie; and the ongoing immersive theatre installations Rooms, made with Paul Fahy. He won a Tony Award for writing the book of the musical Once.
Medicine is supported by the Arts Council. The production will premiere at Galway International Arts Festival in September 2021.