The Wexford Trilogy - A Handful of Stars & Poor Beast in the Rain & Belfry

A Handful of Stars - M6,F1

Set in a snooker club, a betting shop and a local church, each play introduces a mix of young cornerboys, old cowboys and chancers of any age in a lyrical, poignant and often hilarious account of lost dreams and thwarted ambitions

Poor Beast in the Rain - M4,F2

Eileen works in her father's betting shop in a small town in Southern Ireland, surrounded by the 'left behind'

Molly, Steven and Joe manage to keep their regrets about the past safely locked away and the young Georgie is ready to turn his back on the outside world and follow their example - until the return of the legendary Danger Doyle

Having turned his back on the cycle of missed opportunities to run away to London with Eileen's mother, he now offers Eileen the possibility of escape

Belfry - M4,F1

Artie, like his father before him, is the sacristan in the local church

Distanced from the rest of the community and caring for an elderly mother, he spends most of his time with father Pat and Dominic the young altar-server

That is, before Angela starts helping with the church flowers

The two begin a 'soaring' affair which awakens a passion in Artie

But someone tells Angela's husband what's going on and Artie is left to face life without her

A deeply moving tale about what lies beneath the surface of everyday lives

REVIEWS

"How many contemporary writers give us the feeling that O'Casey has been exhumed in order to set a Chekhov short story to dialogue?" ~ The Times

" ... these funny, big-hearted plays are eminently watchable" ~ Dominic Cavendish

" ... the full flavour of small-town Irish life, with all its bitter-sweet comedy, its grudging compassion and its lethal inertia" ~ Time Out