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Thomas Kilroy

THOMAS KILROY

  (1934 - )
Nationality:    Irish
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Alan Brodie Representation Ltd  

Thomas Kilroy was born in Ireland in 1934 at Callan, County Kilkenny. He was educated by the Christian Brothers, St Kieran's College and University College Dublin where he gained an education degree and went on to became a teacher and a headmaster. In 1965 he was appointed senior lecturer at UCD, lecturing on English, Anglo-Irish and 18th century Drama. He was also a visiting professor in various American universities. Between 1973 and 1979 he took a break from his university career after the success of his novel, the BIG CHAPeL (1971, shortlisted for the Booker Prize). He was then appointed professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is a member of the Royal Society for Literature and of the Irish Academy of Letters. In March 2004 he received a lifetime achievement award at the Irish Times/eSB Irish Theatre Awards. He was recently made an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. His other awards are: Heinneman Award for Literature, AIB Literary Prize, BBC Drama Prize, American-Irish Foundation Prize for Literature, Rockefeller Foundation Residency, Kyoto University Foundation Award, Prix Nikki Commendation (TV). His plays include: the DeATH AND ReSURReCTION OF MR. ROCHe (Dublin Theatre Festival, 1968 and Hampstead Theatre, London); the ONeILL (Peacock Theatre, 1969); TeA AND SeX AND SHAKeSPeARe (Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, 1976); TALBOTS BOX (Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, 1977 and Royal Court Theatre, London); DOUBLe CROSS (Field Day Theatre, 1986 and Royal Court Theatre); the MADAMe MacADAM TRAVeLLING Theatre (Field Day Theatre, 1991 and Irish Repertory Theatre, New York); the SeCReT FALL OF CONSTANCe WILDe (Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis 2008/Bite 2000 International Festival, Barbican Theatre, London/Melbourne International Festival, 1998 and Abbey Theatre, 1997); the SHAPe OF MeTAL (Abbey Theatre, Dublin 2003 and Origin Theatre Co, New York 2007). He has also done versions of Chekhov's SeAGULL (Royal Court Theatre 1981) Ibsen's GHOSTS (Peacock Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival 1989) and Pirandello's SIX CHARACTeRS IN SeARCH OF AN AUTHOR (Abbey Theatre 1996) and HeNRY IV (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre 2005). He new play CHRIST DeLIVeR US! premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 2010. In April 2011 a public reading of his play BLAKe was given by the Abbey Theatre Company at the Samuel Becket Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin.

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

         Blake         Christ Deliver Us!         Death And Resurrection Of Mr Roche, The         Double Cross         Ghosts         Henry (After Pirandello)         Madame Macadam Travelling theatre, The         My Scandalous Life         O'Neill, The         Seagull, The         Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde, The         Shape Of Metal, The         Six Characters In Search Of An Author         Talbot's Box         Tea And Sex And Shakespeare

Blake

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Public Reading At Samuel Becket Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin.     01 Apr 2011

Organisations:
Abbey Theatre Company

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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Christ Deliver Us!

Synopsis:
Teenagers in Ireland in the 1950s. Winnie is curious about sex. Michael has become an atheist. Mossie kills himself after suffering parental abuse and realising he is gay

Notes:
Original Playwright - Frank Wedekind

1st Produced:
Abbey Theatre, Dublin     09 Feb 2010

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Ireland (2010)   978-1852354886

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

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Genre:
Drama. - - Gay, theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  30            Female:  6            Other:  doubling possible

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=3328

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Death And Resurrection Of Mr Roche, The

Synopsis:
Kelly, the central figure in this piece, is a bit mouldy around the edges from the drink and years of being a bachelor. It's Saturday night, the pub's closed and the lads are back at Kelly's dingy flat. In the midst of this gathering appears Mr. Roche, a middle-aged gay man, and a young student. the party, whilst goading Mr. Roche en masse, discover his fear of confined spaces and after an argument with the host he is locked into the small cellar. He is disentombed shortly afterwards - apparently dead.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Olympia Theatre, Dublin >>>     07 Oct 1968

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1969   -

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:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=1620

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Double Cross

Synopsis:
A play which tells the story of Brendan Bracken, MP and Minister for Information, and William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw-Haw.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Guildhall, Derry     03 Feb 1986

Organisations:
Field Day Theatre Company

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1986   -

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=690

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Ghosts

Synopsis:
Ghosts deals with the futile struggle to escape outdated ideals as a mother tries to shield her son from the moral and sexual lapses of his late father.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Oldcastle, 2002   -

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:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=675

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Henry (After Pirandello)

Synopsis:
actor Richard McMillan is Henry, a man of enormous wealth and privilege, who believes he is the eleventh-century Holy Roman emperor and German King Henry IV. a fortress is built and actors are hired to carry out his fantasy. But is he mad or are we? adapted from Luigi Pirandello's enrico IV, Kilroy's version transports Pirandello's main character into twenty-first-century Hollywood with sensationally Dramatic results.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Luigi Pirandello

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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:  6            Female:  3            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:
-

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Madame Macadam Travelling theatre, The

Synopsis:
the Madame MacAdam Travelling theatre is a small english touring company. It arrives in a provincial Irish town, sometime in the early 1940s during the turmoil of World War II. the play explores what happens when the players and townspeople interact.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Guildhall, Derry     09 Sep 1991

Organisations:
Field Day Theatre Company

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:  12            Female:  4            Other:  greyhound

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=810

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My Scandalous Life

Synopsis:
Set in 1944 in the middle of the Second World War, this play depicts Lord alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde's beloved Bosie, overcome with memories of the notorious love affair which rocked the world, as he struggles to examine the mysteries of his own identity. Forever linked to Wilde. . . the scandal. . . the violent trials which led to Wilde's imprisonment. . . the guilt. . . and the subsequent half century he lived after the death of Wilde whilst alone in Paris in 1900, Bosie searches for the very personal meaning of a life foreer the subject of endless conjecture. as his wife, Olive, lies dying upstairs, Lord Douglas displays unexpected depths of feelings, as he copes with his marriage, his memories of Oscar, and the tragic fate of his only son.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Irish Repertory theatre
132 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011     06 Feb 2011

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. - - Gay/Lesbian, of interest

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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O'Neill, The

Synopsis:
In the Sixteenth Century a war was fought between the Irish and the english for nine years which led to the dissolution of the ancient order of Irish government.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Dublin, 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 One act

Parts:
Male:  19            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=1433

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Seagull, The

Synopsis:
An adaptation of Chekhov's first great comedy, which tells the story of Arkadina (a fading actress) and her passionate, lonely son, Konstantin. One day in a fit of misery he shoots a seagull. Trigorin, the writer, threatens to write a story about it. Nina, the local beauty and object of their affections, becomes the seagull with calamitous consequences, as the play moves in a frenetic spiral of farce, tragedy and love.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:

Organisations:
eSC

1st Published:
Eyre Methuen, London, 1981   -

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:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=786

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Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde, The

Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde, The
Constance Wilde is allowed, for once, to steal the spotlight from Oscar's decline and fall, in a play that translates her own tragedy into a stylised emotional investigation. a silent faceless chorus in pin stripes poses for every episode of her disillusionment forming part of a striking visual language which aims to bring alive the overpowering emotions that allowed her both to condemn and to forgive her husband.
Rachel Hallibuton, evening Standard

Notes:
Oscar Wilde. Lord Alfred Douglas

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Dublin, 1997   978-1852351939

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. - - Gay/Lesbian, historical characters

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=795

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Shape Of Metal, The

Shape Of Metal, The
On the eve of the opening of a permanent exhibition of her work at the Museum of Modern art, the world-renowned sculptor Nell Jeffrey and her daughter Judith struggle to come to terms with the disappearance of Grace, Judith's elder sister, who walked out of her mother's studio 30 years before. the mystery of Grace's disappearance lies at the heart of the play, and haunts both Judith's life and Nell's work until finally, through a cruel twist of fate, mother and daughter are forced to confront the events of the past, and exorcise its unquiet ghosts.
- press release

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Oldcastle, 2003   978-1852353506

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=1133

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Six Characters In Search Of An Author

Synopsis:
Six people arrive in a theatre during rehearsals for a play. But they are not ordinary people. they are the characters of a play that has not yet been written. Trapped inside a traumatic event from which they long to escape, they desperately need a writer to complete their story and release them. Intrigued by their situation, the director and his company of actors listen as the characters begin to describe and argue over the key events of their lives.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Luigi Pirandello

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:  7            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=794

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Talbot's Box

Synopsis:
Matt Talbot, the workers' saint (1856-1925), provokes Thomas Kilroy's examination of the idea of sanctity in the modern world. the very incorporation of penance and spiritual search, his conversion from alcoholism to prayer, fasting and self-mortification is sketched in the textured resonances of the idiom of the Dublin streets and in the soaring lyrical versions of his final visions.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Dublin, 1979   -

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:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=801

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Tea And Sex And Shakespeare

Synopsis:
Tea and Sex and Shakespeare is a comedy of near despair concerning the peculiar loneliness of a writer whose imagination has turned upon him. Instead of serving his work, Brien's imagination starts to produce creatures out of the woodwork and nightmares out of Shakespeare. Suddenly the playwrights finds himself in his own play, a fantastic farce where the borderline between what is real and what is imagined dissolves, walls open up, and an old wardrobe becomes a magical box.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Gallery Press, Dublin, 1998   -

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.irishplayography.com/play.aspx?playid=703

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