Photo (c) Ger Blanch
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BeforeA new play with much music by Pat Kinevane
From the team that brought you Forgotten, Underneath and the Olivier Award-winning Silent, Before is a new play with much music, set in Clery’s of Dublin, on the very day this iconic department store shuts - for good. Pontius is inside, trying to choose a gift for his estranged daughter, whom he hasn’t seen for almost 20 years. He will meet her in an hour. This father’s journey is both beautiful and strange, from the isolation of his Midlands home, to the madness of O’Connell Street. Some folk are impossible to buy for…
Before was commissioned by Fishamble and has been in development with the support of the Arts Council, National Theatre Studio (London), Pavilion Theatre, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Georganne Aldrich Heller, Robert Leroy, and The Strollers Touring Network. 'You fight back tears. Of course you do. It’s Kinevane - a rare and truly compelling talent' ★★★★★ The Herald, Scotland '..another profoundly affecting tour de force from Kinevane.' ★★★★★ Edinburgh Festivals Magazine ‘Kinevane’s performance works like a spell… a real showstopper' ★★★★ Irish Times “extraordinary collaboration... soul-searching, achingly touching gem…' ★★★★ Sunday Times WINNER: HERALD ARCHANGEL AWARD, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019 #FishambleBEFORE
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Created By
Fishamble and Pat Kinevane
Fishamble produced Pat Kinevane’s first play The Nun’s Wood in 1998, followed by his second play The Plains of Enna in 1999. Fishamble is very proud to have commissioned, developed, and produced three solo plays written and performed by Pat, which continue to tour extensively. They are Forgotten (since 2006), Silent (since 2011), Underneath (since 2014), and Before (Since 2018), all directed by Jim Culleton. The plays have been performed in over 60 venues throughout Ireland. In 2019 Pat Kinevane won a Herald Archangel Award for 'sustained and excellent' contribution to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Silent has won Olivier, Helen Hayes, Fringe First, Herald Angel and Argus Angel awards, and Underneath won Fringe First, LA Stage Raw and Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre awards, and was nominated for Offie/Off West End and Total Theatre awards. The productions have toured throughout Europe, with partners including Dance Base (Edinburgh), Soho Theatre (London), CCI (Paris), Prague Fringe Festival, Lokal Festival (Reykjavik), International Theatre Festival (Sibiu), Tron Theatre (Glasgow), Cymru Theatr Clwyd, Irish Festival (Oulu), GLAS (Geneva), Home (Manchester), INFANT Festival (Novi Sad), Brighton Festival, Hotbed Festival (Cambridge), nu:write (Zagreb), and to Leuven, Kaiserslautern, Trabzon, and all across Bulgaria. In the US, in association with Georganne Aldrich Heller, they were presented by the Irish Arts Center, New York, and in Boston Center for the Arts, the Source Theatre in Washington D.C. and the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. In Australia, Silent toured with APA to Perth and Melbourne, and Underneath toured to Adelaide. The Pat Kinevane Trilogy continues to tour extensively in Ireland and abroad
Reviews
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'You fight back tears. Of course you do. It’s Kinevane - a rare and truly compelling talent'
★★★★★ The Herald, Scotland ‘Kinevane’s performance works like a spell… a real showstopper, heaven can be found in the most unlikely places.’ ★★★★ Irish Times 'Packs a hefty punch...[Kinevane is] a theatrical master craftsman’ ★★★★ The Scotsman 'extraordinary collaboration... soul-searching, achingly touching gem… [Kinevane is] a treasured force in Irish theatre.' ★★★★ Sunday Times ‘a singular pleasure’ ★★★★ Sunday Business Post ‘blows you away… Kinevane really shines… a rare privilege to watch... Well worth seeing’ ★★★★ Musical Theatre Review 'Pat Kinevane is a truly incredible performer, whose ability to reach into the darkest depths of human emotion and speak out for those marginalised in society is what truly elevates him as a masterful storyteller and a must see at any opportunity.' ★★★★ TN2 Magazine ‘Incomparable… with boundless, heroic energy… he sings like a god… superb… Kinevane displays a complete, perfect mastery of his actor’s instrument… don’t miss this show.' LA Times |
'...an extraordinary tour de force... It is nothing less than a privilege to witness this unique talent in a show that is utterly singular and steeped in surprise. With the power to make you laugh, cry, think and feel, Before is fabulous physical theatre.'
★★★★★ The Wee Review '...another profoundly affecting tour de force from Kinevane.' ★★★★★ Edinburgh Festivals Magazine ‘one of the most beautiful shows I’ve seen in a long time… shows us true theatre craftmanship is still alive and well… an absolute joy to watch… strongly recommended.’ ★★★★ ½ Arthur’s Seat ‘often hilarious…mind blowingly brilliant…flashes of genius…a truly remarkable performer’ TheArtsReview ‘[a]distinct brand of intimate virtuosity’ Irish Independent ‘a raging plea to see the world in terms beyond black and white’ Sunday Independent ‘A great solo-work.… powerful.’ U.S Theater, Opera and Performance ‘Fascinating… shines in ways that only Pat Kinevane can craft… Director Jim Culleton does a superb job …[Before] should delight his fans – and… create some new ones.’ LA Splash |
Upcoming Performances
SUPPORT THE EMMA O'KANE BURSARY
BEFORE features choreography by Emma O'Kane.
Emma O'Kane was an exceptionally gifted artist who moved effortlessly across art forms and media as a performer, a choreographer and a participation project leader.
Following her untimely death in 2021, Fishamble together with a consortium of partners set up an independent bursary in her name to honour her exceptional ethos and artistic practice.
‘Go big or go home’ was an Emma expression. She believed in people’s potential and in trying things out. She was never afraid of failure.
The purpose of the bursary, why it exists and its unique contribution to artists, aims to capture this essence.
Keep her legacy alive. Sustain her spirit. Make a donation now:
Production Shots
Photographs by Patrick Redmond.
Meet the Team
Pat Kinevane
Writer & Performer |
Pat Kinevane is a native of Cobh, Co. Cork. He has worked as an actor in theatre, film, television and radio for 33 years. In 2016 Pat won a Laurence Olivier Award in London for his Outstanding Achievement as an Actor and a Writer this year. This prestigious award was shared with Fishamble and Jim Culleton who have been integral to the Production and Direction of Pat’s four Solo Shows. As a writer he completed his first full length play The Nun’s Wood in 1997 which won a BBC Stewart Parker Trust Award and was produced by Fishamble. Fishamble then produced his second play The Plains of Enna (Dublin Theatre Festival 1999). Pat wrote The Death of Herod for Mysteries 2000 at the SFX. In 2008 his piece Evangeline Elsewhere premiered in New York in the First Irish Festival.
Pat has been touring since 2006 with his four solo pieces Forgotten (Irish Times Theatre Award Nominee) Silent (Scotsman Fringe First, Herald Angel and Brighton Argus Angel Award) Underneath (Scotsman Fringe First and Adelaide Fringe Awards), and Before (Herald Archangel Award winner) all produced by Fishamble. Pat is deeply thankful to Fishamble for all of their work and endless support. |
Denis Clohessy
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Denis Clohessy has previously worked with Fishamble, including the productions The Pride of Parnell Street, Silent, Underneath, Before, The Alternative (Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Soundscape in 2019, together with The Examination for Brokentalkers and In Our Veins for Bitter Like a Lemon/Abbey/Dublin Port Company), Spinning, Mainstream and Strandline. He has also produced work for theatre and dance with The Abbey Theatre, The Gate Theatre, Rough Magic, Corn Exchange, Junk Ensemble and many others. He won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Design Sound in 2011 for Rough Magic’s Sodome, My Love, he was a nominee in 2015 (for Junk Ensemble’s ‘It Folds), was an associate artist with the Abbey in 2008 and was a participant on Rough Magic’s ADVANCE programme in 2012. His composition work for Film and Television includes the films Older than Ireland (Snack box Films), The Irish Pub (Atom Films), His and Hers (Venom Film), The Land of the Enlightened (Savage Film), In View (Underground Cinema), The Reluctant Revolutionary (Underground Films), and the television series Limits of Liberty (South Wind Blows) performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
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Jim Culleton
Director |
Jim Culleton is the Artistic Director of Fishamble: The New Play Company, for which he has directed productions on tour throughout Ireland, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US. His productions for Fishamble have won Olivier, The Stage, Scotsman Fringe First, and Irish Times Best Director awards. Jim has also directed for the Abbey, the Gaiety, the Belgrade, 7:84 Scotland, Project, Amharclann de hÍde, Tinderbox, Passion Machine, the Ark, Second Age, Dundee Rep, CoisCéim/Crash Ensemble/GIAF, Frontline Defenders, Amnesty International, Little Museum of Dublin, Fighting Words, Soho Theatre, Scripts Festival, and Baptiste Programme. He has directed audio plays for Audible, BBC, RTÉ Radio 1, and RTÉ lyric fm. He has directed for Vessel and APA (Australia), TNL (Canada), Solas Nua, Mosaic, and Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Odyssey (LA), Origin, Irish Arts Center, New Dramatists, and 59E59 (Off-Broadway), as well as for Trafalgar Theatre Productions on the West End, and IAC/Symphony Space on Broadway. Jim has taught for NYU, NUI, GSA, Uversity, the Lir, Villanova, Notre Dame, UM, UMD, JNU, and TCD.
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Previous Performances
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2022 Touring
12 March Glór, Ennis 25&26 March Millbank Theatre, Rush 2 April Theatre Royal, Waterford 5&6 April Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris 14 May PhizzFest, Phibsborough 10 June: Festival of Writing & Ideas, Borris 26 July: Hewitt Summer School, Armagh 29 Sept: The Everyman, Cork 2021 Live and Digital Touring 4 July: CLONMEL JUNCTION ARTS FESTIVAL, Clonmel 14 Aug: SCRIPTS FESTIVAL, Birr 2019 Touring
1 Feb: MERMAID ARTS CENTRE, Bray 8 Feb: NENAGH ARTS CENTRE, Nenagh 15 - 16 Feb: CIVIC THEATRE, Tallaght 21-22 Feb: PAVILION THEATRE, Dún Laoghaire 23 Feb: GARTER LANE, Waterford 11 Apr: ROSCOMMON ARTS CENTRE, Roscommon 27 Apr: RAMOR, Virginia 2-3 May: AXIS, Ballymun 2 Jun: LISTOWEL WRITERS' WEEK 4-5 Jun: THE EVERYMAN, Cork 27 June: TOWN HALL THEATRE, Galway 15 - 21 July: FIT UP FESTIVAL, West Cork 2 - 25 Aug: DANCE BASE, Edinburgh, supported by Culture Ireland 14 Sept: PAVILION THEATRE, Dún Laoghaire 19 Sept: DROICHEAD ARTS CENTRE, Drogheda 22 Sept: SHORELINES FESTIVAL, Portumna 25 Sept: CLIFDEN ARTS FESTIVAL, Clifden 4 - 5 Oct: THE IRISH FESTIVAL OF OULU, Oulu, Finland, supported by Culture Ireland 9 Oct: THE DOCK, Carrick on Shannon 11 Oct: MERMAID ARTS CENTRE, Bray 15 Oct: BALLINA ARTS CENTRE, Ballina 24 - 25 Oct: BELFAST INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, Belfast 14 Nov - 8 Dec: ODYSSEY THEATER, Los Angeles, USA, supported by Culture Ireland |
2018 Strollers Network Tour
5 Oct: Dublin Theatre Festival (Preview) 7 Nov: VISUAL, Carlow 9 Nov: SOURCE ARTS CENTRE, Tipperary 13 Nov: WATERGATE THEATRE, Kilkenny 15 Nov: HAWK'S WELL THEATRE, Sligo 17 Nov: SIAMSA TÍRE, Sligo 19 Nov: SOLSTICE ARTS CENTREe, Navan 21 Nov: LINENHALL ARTS CENTRE, Castlebar 23 - 24 Nov: DRAÍOCHT, Blanchardstown |
