Dublin By Lamplight, by Michael West

Director:  Maureen Lukie
Stage Manager: Celeste Hebdon-Thomas

The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity. - W.B. Yeats

It's 1904 in Dublin (or a version of it). Playwright-producer Willy Hayes prepares for the grand opening of his National Theatre, beset by battling egos, mounting debt, a visit from the King and the threat of rebellion. In this play, ten actors will play over 30 Dublin citizens — actors and artists, aristocrats, dung dodgers, rebels, soldiers, police, prostitutes, the poor, etc.

There's Eva St. John, a fiery actress and political agitator. There's Frank, Willy's brother and leading man, whose life is complicated. There's Martyn Wallace, veteran actor looking for a hit, and Maggie, the hotel maid, who longs for something more. And Jimmy the stage hand who longs for Maggie. Any resemblance to major literary and political figures of the age is entirely coincidental and more than deliberate.

Written by Michael West, and created by The Corn Exchange in Dublin in 2004 as a centenary tribute to a period of creativity and chaos, Dublin by Lamplight blends comedy and tragedy in a style that fuses story-telling, commedia dell'arte, vaudeville and more.

In TIP's 50th anniversary year, it's our salute to the wellspring of Irish theatre. But whether you know anything of the drama or the history, it's a funny, wild, absurd and heartbreaking night in the theatre.