About the Play:
Shining City is a full-length drama by Conor McPherson.
A recent widower who believes he sees his late wife wafting about
their home consults a Dublin therapist who has his own set of
delusions. Shining City is a brilliant, haunting play from the multi-award winning
author of The Weir.
Shining City has been an unqualified critical success and
quite possibly Conor McPherson's finest work. In Dublin, Ian has left
the priesthood to become a therapist. John is one of his first
clients. John's wife has been killed in a car accident, and he keeps
receiving visits from her ghost. John, with Ian's help, starts to
recover. But what begins as an unusual encounter becomes a desperate
struggle between the living and the dead – a struggle which will
shape and define both of them for the rest of their lives.
Shining City was first staged in 2004 at the Royal Court
Theatre in London. It opened on Broadway in 2006 at Biltmore Theatre
and was nominated for two Tony Awards, including Best Play.
Cast: 1 female, 3 male
Also included is the one-act, Come on Over, about a
Jesuit priest sent to investigate a "miracle" in his
hometown, where he re-encounters the woman who loved him 30 years
before. (First performed in 2001 at The Gate Theatre in Dublin,
Ireland; Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
What people say:
"His sentences are better, his
sentiments more developed than many Booker Prize-winners. He is
terrific." — Observer
"The finest dramatist of his
generation… Conor McPherson is back in
business, writing magnificently." — Daily Telegraph
"…quiet, haunting and
absolutely glorious… Shining City is as close
to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets." — New
York Times
"…moving, compassionate,
ingenious and absolutely gripping … scenes that provoke great,
generous gales of laughter, others that send a shiver of fear down
the spine … riveting." — Telegraph
"…compulsively gripping…
Conor McPherson brilliantly reconciles the
mundane and the metaphysical." — Guardian
"Conor McPherson
at his best, laying bare the soul in all its pathetic, flawed
ordinariness." — London Evening Standard
"Writing at its most
riveting." — The Times
"At his best Conor
McPherson is a writer who combines great character comedy
with a real sense of pathos. And Shining City is
Conor McPherson at his very best… Guilt, sex
and therapy with a script from acting heaven." — Daily
Mail
About the Playwright:
Conor McPherson is an Irish playwright and co-founder of
the Fly by Night Theatre Company. He has won numerous awards,
including a Laurence Olivier Award for The Weir and Tony Award
nominations for Shining City and The Seafarer.