Image by Leo Byrne & Publicis. |
Fishamble: The New Play Company presents
BREAKINGWritten by Amy Kidd
Directed by Jim Culleton You can be a bit naïve sometimes. Welcome to the world of Sam and Charlie in BREAKING, a groundbreaking first play by Amy Kidd. It looks like love but it tastes like control. How do we judge, when we can't trust our own judgment? Who do we distrust and who gets the benefit of the doubt? Fishamble's world premiere of BREAKING asks fascinating and profound questions about how we navigate a world without any simple answers. Sam and Charlie are played by Curtis-Lee Ashqar, Eavan Gaffney, Matthew Malone and Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle. Duration Running Time 90 mins - No interval Age Guidelines 14+ / This production contains scenes of coercive control and suggestions of domestic violence and self-harm. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this production, support is available through a number of organisations accessible here. ★★★★ 'clever... compelling' Irish Times 'intriguing... compelling and provocative... a fine ensemble... fascinating' Irish Independent ‘an intricate puzzle…brilliant’ RTÉ Arena ‘an important play… the cast do it full justice…brave and innovative’ Sunday Independent ‘powerful moments…superlative performance’ Arts Review ‘an elaborately structured puzzle…deftly directed’ The Guardian |
Creative Team |
Production Team |
Written by Amy Kidd
Directed by Jim Culleton Set and Costume Designer Alyson Cummins Lighting Designer Suzie Cummins Composer and Sound Designer Carl Kennedy Dramaturg Gavin Kostick |
Creative Producer Laura MacNaughton
Production Manager Eoin Kilkenny Stage Manager Steph Ryan Marketing Allie Whelan PR O'Doherty Communications Executive Director Eva Scanlan Assistant Stage Manager Emily-Rose Champion Intimacy Director Sue Mythen Chief LX Adrian Moylan Costume Supervisor Maisey Lorimer Sound Assistant John Norton Staging Crew Damien Woods Set Construction Connacht Production Services Cover Artwork Leo Byrne & Publicis Rehearsal photography Allie Whelan Production photography Anthony Woods Carpenter Martin Wallace LX Crew T Kokalj Production Manager (Cork) Ian Brown Filmed by Media Coop Associate Producer Cally Shine Executive Director Eva Scanlan |
Past Performances
27-28 September 2024, Droichead Arts Centre
2-5 October 2024, Draíocht, Dublin Theatre Festival
8-9 October 2024, The Everyman, Cork
Meet the Team
Amy Kidd is an actor and playwright who trained (in acting) at The Lir Academy, Dublin. Amy is a founding member of emerging Irish theatre company Anseo Anois Theatre, with whom she has worked primarily as an actor, but also as a collaborating artist on the writing &development of new plays and as a director. Most recently, she played Sylviain the company’s production ofThe Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell. BREAKING is Amy’s debut play; she is delighted that Fishamble are producing its premier production, and over the moon to be working with such a wonderful team. She is currently writing her next play, for which she is grateful to be supported by The Arts Council, The Abbey, The Irish Theatre Institute and FRINGELAB. |
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, including 11 transfers Off-Broadway. His productions for Fishamble have won Olivier, The Stage, Scotsman Fringe First, and Irish Times Best Director awards. Jim has 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, Scripts, Dirty Protest, Draíocht, and Baptiste Programme. He has directed audio plays for Audible, BBC, RTÉ Radio 1, and RTÉ lyric fm. He has also directed for Vessel and APA (Australia), TNL (Canada), Solas Nua, Mosaic, and Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Odyssey (LA), Origin, Irish Arts Center, New Dramatists, Irish Rep, and 59E59 (New York), as well as for Trafalgar Theatre Productions on the West End, and IAC/Symphony Space on Broadway. He has edited many books, most recently Fishamble Tiny Plays in 2024 for New Island Books. |
Curtis-Lee Ashqar is a graduate of the three-year Bachelor in Acting (Hons) from The Lir Academy. His most recent castings include Dave Hyndman in Good Vibrations musical at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast, directed by Des Kennedy. Prior to this Curtis-Lee and company won Best Production at Dublin Fringe Festival 2022, in Carys Coburn’s Absent The Wrong at the Abbey Theatre on the Peacock Stage, directed by Veronica Coburn. After this, Curtis-Lee worked briefly with Druid, in their play reading series Stars & Stripes. Curtis-Lee also portrayed Hassan in The DLO, a play for young audiences crafted and written by Mary-Lou McCarthy. He recently worked on a new play by Marina Carr, Gilgamesh, with theatre company Macnas playing the title role. Curtis-Lee appeared in the role of Jo in Peat by Kate Heffernan and directed by Tim Crouch at The Ark, Dublin. Screen Credits include roles in Game of Thrones (Season 5) directed by Michael Slovis, Into The Badlands for AMC, Torvill & Dean for ITV and the lead role of Ahmet in Murat Asker's short film The Gift. Some of Curtis-Lee’s credits at The Lir include The Skriker in The Skriker directed by Tom Creed, Vaguin in Children of the Sun directed by Lynne Parker, Three Winters directed by David Horan, The Garden devised with Mikel Murfi, Damus in Portia Coughlan directed by Annabelle Comyn, the short film Happyish directed by Juanita Wilson. |
Eavan Gaffney most recently played the role of Lusha in Rough Magic and The Abbey Theatre’s co-production of Children of the Sun, directed by Lynne Parker. She performed in Emilie Hetland’s Revolutionary, directed by Katie O’Halloran; in Staging The Treaty written by Theo Dorgan and directed by Louise Lowe; and she played the role of Maud alongside Owen Roe in Sebastian Barry’s The Steward of Christendom at the Gate Theatre, Dublin & National tour.Eavan’s further credits include You’re Still Here by Murmuration for the Dublin Fringe Festival, The Fabulously True and Timeless Tale of Sergeant Virgil by Andy Crook for Faoin Speir. |
Matthew Malone is an Irish actor. Named as one of The Irish Times’ 50 people to watch, he has worked with many of Ireland’s leading theatre companies. Matthew has been nominated by the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards three times, including Best Actor for the role of Bernard in Philip McMahon’s Once Before I Go (The Gate). Selected stage credits include An Old Song Half Forgotten opposite Bryan Murray at The Abbey Theatre, Gold in the Water (One Thousand Pieces | Lovano), The Boy Who Never Was (Brokentalkers), Tarry Flynn (Livin’ Dred), Faultline (ANU), and the role of Gracie in Fishamble’s Embargo. On screen Matthew recently appeared in Frank Sweeney’s new film Few Can See (IFFR Tiger Award winner), and also played the leading role of Donal in Dad (RTÉ | Blue Ink Films) directed by Declan Recks. Further TV/Film credits include Miss Scarlet and The Duke (PBS), The Resistance Fighter (Scorpio), Valhalla (Netflix), Darkey Kelly (Screen Ireland), and As Luck Would Have It (Zanzibar). Matthew is also a writer, currently developing a full length play funded by Arts Council Ireland and a new comedy-drama with support from Virgin Media. He trained in acting at The Lir, and also holds a degree in Drama & English from Trinity College Dublin. |
Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle most recently filmed a main role alongside Barry Ward and Charlene McKenna in the TV Series Clean Sweep. Just prior they filmed the role of Dr Brady in the comedy feature Apocalypse Clown directed by George Kane. In theatre Jeanne has just finished a run of Metamorphoses, written and directed by Jimmy Justice. Jeanne played the role of The Chorus in Suzy Stork directed by Ursula McGinn at Smock Alley Theatre; and the role of Grace in An Octoroon directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike for The Abbey Theatre. Further credits include Try and Touch, directed by Nell Hensey; Stay Alive alongside Stephen Rea, Emmet Kirwan and Lisa Dwyer-Hogg, directed by Juliet Riddell; Dungeons & Dragons directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein for Paramount. |