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Bernard Farrell

BERNARD FARRELL

  
Nationality:    Irish
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Rosica Colin Ltd  

Bernard Farrell was born in SAndycove, Co. Dublin, Ireland and educated at Monkstown Park College. Until 1980, he worked as a clerk for a shipping company, Stenna-Sealink. then, following the success of his first play, "I Do Not Like thee Doctor Fell" at the Abbey Theatre, he resigned and has since written twenty-one stage plays, mainly for the Abbey Theatre Dublin. He has also had his plays premiered at the Gate Theatre Dublin, Red Kettle Theatre Waterford and the Laguna Playhouse California. When not writing for Theatre, he has written extensively for both RTE and BBC television and radio. He has won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Sunday Tribune Comedy of the Year Award, been awarded Best Irish Production in the 1996 Dublin Theatre Festival and, in 1998, his play "Kevin's Bed" was nominated as Best Irish Play in the IrishTimes/eSB Theatre Awards. He is a member of Aosdana (Irish Academy of Distinguished Artists), was Writer-In-Association with the Abbey Theatre and from 1997 to 2004 served on the Board of Directors of the Abbey. June 2014 received The John B. Keane Life Achievement Award. He is married and lives in Greystones, Co. Wicklow.

Research:    http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=2041

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below is a list of Bernard Farrell's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         All In Favour Said No         All the Way Back         Because Just Because         Bookworms         Canaries         Don Juan         Forty-Four Sycamore         Goodbye Smiler, It's Been Nice         Happy Birthday Dear Alice         I Do Not Like thee, Doctor Fell         Kevin's Bed         Last Apache Reunion, The         Legs Eleven         Lovers At Versailles         Many Happy Returns         One, Two, Three, O'leary         Petty Sessions         Say Cheese!         Spirit Of Annie Ross, The         Stella By Starlight         then Moses Met Marconi         Wallace, Balfe and Mr Bunn

All In Favour Said No

All In Favour Said No
a look at industrial relations and the people trapped therein.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Co-Op Books, Dublin, 1982
http://www.mercierpress.ie/I_Do_Not_Like_thee_Dr_Fell_and_All_in_Favour_Said_No!/100/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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All the Way Back

All the Way Back
This is a comedy of survival in suburbia. Sheila is the wife of a redundant executive. He was once a major force in business and rugby but now all he attracts is rejection. When Sheila takes matters into her own hands, the consequences are both comedic and startling.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Brophy Books, 1988
http://www.mercierpress.ie/All_the_Way_Back/5/   978-0907960997

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Because Just Because

Synopsis:
Because just Because is set in the American midwest of the 1870's, where landed settlers compete with cow-herders for ownership of the prairies.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
pArt of a tour to schools    Jan 1986

Organisations:

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
play for primary school students

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bookworms

Bookworms
the book club decide to hold a meeting and bring their husbands - which turns out to be a recipe for disaster

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Abbey Theatre, Dublin    22 May 2010

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Bookworms_by_Bernard_Farrell/612/   978-1856359931

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Canaries

Synopsis:
Canaries is a comedy about Tommy, Marie and Marie's Father who go on holiday to the Canary Islands and meet up with Jane, Richard and their gang. Drinking, lying, partner-swapping and amusing incidents follow and Tommy and Marie end up having a holiday that they will never forget - but not necessarily for the right reasons.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Co-Op Books, Dublin, 1980
Clonlea Distributors. email: Clonlea5@gmail.com   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Don Juan

Synopsis:
Don Juan, the most notorious womaniser ever to live, seduces his way across the country until he meets his end and is swallowed up by the flames of hell.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Moliere

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  8            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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Forty-Four Sycamore

Forty-Four Sycamore
a frantic account of a dinner party involving two upwardly mobile young couples. everything seems to be going according to plan until it emerges that another guest has been invited - one who is not entirely welcome. the party goes rapidly downhill from there with hilarious, if sometimes frightening, consequences.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Red Kettle Theatre Company, Waterford, Ireland

1st Published:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Forty_Four_Sycamore_and_Last_Apache_Reunion/112/ (1995)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Goodbye Smiler, It's Been Nice

Synopsis:
an office staff variously reconstruct the death of the caretaker

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lantern Theatre, Dublin    1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Happy Birthday Dear Alice

Synopsis:
Happy Birthday Dear alice focuses on the efforts of a dispersed, dysfunctional suburban family to commit their ageing, gentle, yet resilient mother to the uncertain fate of a nursing home.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Red Kettle Theatre Company, Waterford, Ireland

1st Published:
Mercier Press, Cork, 1997
Clonlea Distributors. email: Clonlea5@gmail.com   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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I Do Not Like thee, Doctor Fell

I Do Not Like thee, Doctor Fell
Six people gather in a locked room for encounter therapy that promises to probe their lives. they get more than they bargained for when Joe Fell savagely exposes their real social and sexual secrets in this send-up of American group therapy.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Co-Op Books, Dublin, 1978
http://www.mercierpress.ie/I_Do_Not_Like_thee_Dr_Fell_and_All_in_Favour_Said_No!/100/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Kevin's Bed

Kevin's Bed
Kevin's Bed is a play of nostalgia, expectations and broken dreams. the setting is the celebration of the golden wedding anniversary of Dan and Doris - a time for them to return to their old house, join in their celebrations, contemplate a life in disarray and remember the joy of their silver anniversary - the Sonny and Cher days, the optimism and the expectations they had of their sons, John and Kevin.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Kevin's_Bed/149/ (1998)   978-1856352864

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  7            Other:  voices

Further Reference:
-

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Last Apache Reunion, The

Last Apache Reunion, The
the Last apache Reunion deals with a group of men at their school reunion, trying to relive their past and, to the dismay of their wives, cover up what they would prefer to hide.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Forty_Four_Sycamore_and_Last_Apache_Reunion/112/ (1995)   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Legs Eleven

Synopsis:
Social issues - housing, drug dependence - are explored within a life-parallel Bingo game

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Holy Rosary Parish Hall, Harolds Cross Road, Dublin.    30 Oct 1979

Organisations:
Moving Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Physical/Devised theatre Piece

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  9            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lovers At Versailles

Lovers At Versailles
the play examines the plight of three women who are left behind when Stephen Sullivan suddenly dies. His wife, Clara, always suspected that Stephen had a hidden life. His daughter, Isobel, is determined to use every opportunity to move up the social ladder and anna, Stephen's favourite daughter, is now offered a second chance at happiness.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Lovers_at_Versailles__the_Spirit_of_Annie_Ross/160/ (2002)   978-1856353908

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  12            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
-

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Many Happy Returns

Synopsis:
Irene and arthur have their house festooned for the return of Declan, the self-made millionaire from New Zealand. If everything goes to plan, arthur's future is secure - and it would - if Old Matty were not around to listen at doors. But celebration soon turns to consternation as family and friends are reunited in Winter Wonderland' and all the old secrets are suddenly unwrapped like the Christmas presents

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Gate Theatre, Dublin >>>    30 Nov 2004

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
Clonlea Distributors. email: Clonlea5@gmail.com   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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One, Two, Three, O'leary

Synopsis:
Davy and Mary are brother and sister. Davy is afraid of the dark and Mary watches too much television. they make friends with Kevin in the playground. Kevin has a toy gun, and he swaps it for Davy's bike. Initially both their parents intervene and insist that they swap back. Ultimately the parents relent, and allow the children build the friendship on their own terms.

Notes:
Adapted by Bernard Farrell from the German original 'Max und Milli' by Volker Ludwig.

1st Produced:
Gate Theatre, Dublin >>>    30 Apr 1985

Organisations:

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
play for 5-12 year olds

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Petty Sessions

Synopsis:
Set in late 19th century involving lawyers and circus performers

Notes:
Based on Dion Boucicault's 'Forbidden Fruit'

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  9            Other:  6c

Further Reference:
-

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Say Cheese!

Synopsis:
a satiric swipe at contemporary Irish life, letting us into the murky secrets which surround the man and his wife who have been selected Ireland's Happiest Couple'. When the sponsors of the competition re-enact their wedding reception, a Pandora's box of strange secrets and old deceits is opened.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Mercier Press, Cork, 1990
Clonlea Distributors. email: Clonlea5@gmail.com   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Satire

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Spirit Of Annie Ross, The

Spirit Of Annie Ross, The
the Gerry Ryan Radio show has set a challenge for a number of people to stay over night in a haunted house. each participant has their own reasons for taking part in the challenge, and as the night progresses their psychological ghosts appear.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Gate Theatre, Dublin >>>    05 Oct 1999

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Lovers_at_Versailles__the_Spirit_of_Annie_Ross/160/ (2002)   978-1856353908

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  voice

Further Reference:
-

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Stella By Starlight

Synopsis:
a wry and compassionate look at a couple coming to terms with shattered dreams, the internet and life in the Wicklow hills.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Gate Theatre, Dublin >>>    08 Oct 1996

Organisations:
Gate Theatre

1st Published:
Mercier Press, Cork, 1997
Clonlea Distributors. email: Clonlea5@gmail.com   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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then Moses Met Marconi

then Moses Met Marconi
then Moses Met Marconi examines local and community radio in rural Ireland, as well as attitudes to women at work. the play explores the relationship between peoples private lives and the quality of personal communication their society encourages.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ursuline College, Sligo    24 Jan 1983

Organisations:

1st Published:
in Three Team Plays, ed Martin Drury, Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 1985   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
play for post-primary senior cycle students

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wallace, Balfe and Mr Bunn

Synopsis:
Waterford-born William Vincent Wallace and Dubliner Michael Balfe were among the leading lights of the Victorian opera. Staged on the occasion of the reopening of the theatre Royal, Farrell's play introduces the forgotten stars to the contemporary stage in the form of a posthumous performance orchestrated by their ambitious producer Mr Alfred Bunn. But will the long-dead musical rivals stick to Bunn's script?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Royal, the Mall, Waterford    02 Nov 2009

Organisations:
Theatre Royal

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical theatre

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  orchestra and large chorus

Further Reference:
-

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