DATES
Assembly Roxy November 2nd to 5th 2015 'There is something horribly relentless about the whole production, which has strong echoes of modern conflicts, notably Vietnam, with black-and-white war footage used for both narrative effect and as a backdrop. '[A]n effective presentation of a thought-provoking work, from a company that clearly’s developing its own distinctive theatrical voice.' Paul Cockburn Broadway Baby |
Fresh from victory at Bannockburn military necessity draws the armies of Robert the Bruce to intervene in Ireland. But is this liberation or conquest?
Robert dispatches his brother Edward across the sea, there to be proclaimed ri Erenn, High King of Ireland. As famine strikes and decisive victory proves elusive, Edward reigns bloodily in a land broken by war; where the boundary between enemy and ally is tragically blurred. The Bruce in Ireland is a blood drenched fictionalised march through the Bruce’s Irish intervention where honour is a cheap coin and war for war’s sake in brutally considered. The Bruce in Ireland by Ben Blow Directed by Kolbrun Bjort Sigfusdottir Sound design by Tom Oakes Cast: Gerry Kielty Kirsty Eila McIntyre Chris Allan Matt Jebb Philip Rainford Douglas Garry Please note that the performance has strong language and violence throughout. 'The Bruce campaign makes ideal fodder for a play like this, and Blow’s script allows it to be clearly and boldly portrayed.' **** Robert Peacock TVbomb 'Director Kolbrun Bjort Sigfusdottir sets all this in the bleakest of landscapes in a meditation on war which sounds at times like a grittily stylised Bruce for the Game of Thrones generation.' Neil Cooper, The Herald |