by David Ireland
Irelands play slyly makes the case that it is not discrimination that ensures survival . . . but rather the ability to be two opposing things at once: Irish and British, politician and terrorist, even comedy and tragedy. If tragicomedy is the natural Irish form, Ireland makes his own inversion here, beginning with amused splutters, ending in hard gulps Irish Times Eric Miller is a Belfast Loyalist. He believes his five-week old granddaughter is Gerry Adams. His family keep telling him to stop living in the past and fighting old battles that nobody cares about anymore, but his cultural heritage is under siege. He must act. David Irelands black comedy takes one mans identity crisis to the limits as he uncovers the modern day complexity of Ulster Loyalism.
Cyprus Avenue premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 2016, before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre, The MAC in Belfast and The Public Theater in New York. It won Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards and the James Tait Black Prize for Drama, 2017. This edition features a new introduction by Dr. Stefanie Lehner.
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