An immersive theatrical experience in Sheridan’s in Ennisnag

Asylum Productions are the driving force behind the flagship theatrical production at this year’s Kilkenny Art Festival.

Written by Medb Lambert, Clare Monnelly and Emma O’Grady and directed by Dónal Gallagher The Local is an immersive piece of theatre which will be performed at Sheridan’s in Ennisnag at this year’s festival.

At the local there’s 50p on the pool table, Sinéad is ripping up the Pope, Féile’s going to get messy and Ireland is on the brink of cataclysmic social change...

PICTURES: Ten years in business - Alize’s School of Singing in Kilkenny

Pictures by Vicky Comerford

It is Friday August 28, 1992. The public house is at the epicentre of Irish culture. It’s our church; a temple of ritual and forgiveness. All lives are here – the public and the private. Everyone is welcome and nobody is getting cancelled.

The Local is an immersive experience of the pub in our national psyche. Written over the space of two and a half years of lockdowns, the three writers wanted to write something that could only be experienced live and in-person.

“We wanted to write about the death of the Irish pub and in order to do so, had to revert back to a time when it was most alive, allowing a new perspective on societal change through the lens of 30 years ago.”

Written by three of Ireland’s most exciting female theatre makers, Clare Monnelly (Charlie is a Clepto), Emma O'Grady (What Good Is Looking Well When You're Rotten on the Inside?) and Medb Lambert (Big Chapel X), The Local is a look back at the nation that formed them. The Local was developed by Asylum Productions, who create large scale works examining Irish society including one of the largest history shows in the history of the state featuring the entire town of Callan. It will feature a mix of professional and non-professional actors, many from the local area.

Performances will take place at Sheridan's in Ennisnag and runs from August 10 (preview) to August 19 (no performance on August 14).

For more and to book tickets www.kilkennyarts.ie