Return of an Arts Festival hit
Luck Just Kissed You Hello by Amy Conroy, which was one of the hit plays of last year’s Galway International Arts Festival, will return to Galway next month.
Exploring notions of identity and sexuality against a backdrop of bereavement and loss, the play will be staged in Galway on November 1 after which it will tour to seven other venues around Ireland.
Luck Just Kissed You Hello, which was a co-production between Galway International Arts Festival and Amy Conroy’s company HotForTheatre, received rave reviews from critics and audiences at its premiere last year. Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin, it starred Conroy, Mark Fitzgerald and Will O'Connell, who are reprising their roles for this tour.
The play explores issues of gender that have become increasingly relevant in recent years. Laura (Amy Conroy) returns home because her father is dying – except that Laura is now Mark. He, along with Gary and Sullivan, must revisit the past in order to re-establish the present, and they all must find a way to forgive and recognise themselves again.
The Guardian described it as “a blistering exploration of masculinity” while the Irish Independent it “provocative, funny and intensely moving.”
Artistic Director of Galway International Arts Festival Paul Fahy has described Amy Conroy “one of most original younger Irish playwrights working today, writing in a style that demonstrates great intelligence, humour and detail”.
The Festival “is thrilled the production will be seen by a wider audience as it goes on tour”, he added.
Playwright Amy Conroy has written this play “for big cities, for small towns, for farmers, for ballroom dancers, for teachers, for artists . . . for you. The audience has always been at the heart of my work”, she said.
Luck Just Kissed You Hello will be staged at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway on 1 November for one night only, followed by Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork; Axis Theatre in Dublin; Riverbank Arts Centre in Kildare; Lyric Theatre in Belfast as part of the Outburst Queer Arts Festival; An Grianán Theatre in Donegal; the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick; and the Pavilion Theatre in Dublin.
■ Tickets €20/ €18 at tht.ie, 091-569777 and at the box office.