Pat Kinevane Wins Herald Archangel Award

Pat Kinevane awarded a coveted Herald Archangel Award for his sustained and excellent contribution to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

At a reception in the Festival theatre in Edinburgh today, Sunday 11 August, renowned actor and playwright Pat Kinevane was awarded a highly coveted Herald Archangel Award for his ‘sustained and excellent contribution’ to Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Pat is currently performing in Fishamble: The New Company’s production of Before (written and performed by Pat, and directed by Jim Culleton) at Dance Base in Edinburgh as part of the Fringe Festival. This acclaimed production runs in Edinburgh until 25 August. This award coincides with the month that Pat celebrates 30 years working in theatre as a professional actor. Previous Archangel award winners include Olwen Fouere, Enda Walsh, Alan Cumming, and The Wooster Group. 
 
Speaking about the award Pat Kinevane said:  “The work that we brought over here is really the product of a beautiful working relationship between me and Fishamble. It’s been a huge creative team effort, so this award is something that is really reflective of that in a lovely way. It’s about people minding each other, looking after each other, caring for each other, and protecting each other in that really creative space. That sort of angelic feeling is really important to me, and this award is just so appropriately reflective of that. Jim Culleton taking my writing under his wing, that’s the main thrust of it really for me, he took it and he fully developed it and gave it all that care, and it’s very reflective of this award.
 
I always carry my cards with me, and I happened to have brought my card of the Archangel Michael with me to Edinburgh! Archangels are fierce protectors of us all, but also very childlike, and that’s how I feel about the fun we have, and the work we do. That process is really loving and very protective as well, almost childlike in its creativity. It’s lovely, it’s really lovely.
 
I’ve always been full of gratitude for that journey and process, but this is just an acknowledgement really for an Irish theatre company being recognised internationally. It’s really amazing, out of all the shows in this massive festival, that they’re recognising, from start to finish, the journey of Fishamble and me. And we’re not finished yet!”
 
Fishamble and Pat Kinevane will tour throughout Ireland in September and October, including a presentation of all four plays (Forgotten, Silent, Underneath and Before) at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, from 11 – 14 September. Book tickets here. 

Pat and Fishamble: The New Play Company have worked together for many years. Fishamble produced Pat’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. Silent has won Olivier, Fringe First, Herald Angel and Argus Angel awards, and Underneathwon 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 in Perth and Melbourne, and Underneath toured to Adelaide, pretended by Arts Project Australia.  The Pat Kinevane Trilogy continues to tour extensively in Ireland and abroad. Before had its world premiere in Ireland in 2018, its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, and will have its US premiere at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles this November.
 
About Before, A 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…
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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. 

‘Kinevane’s performance works like a spell… a real showstopper' ★★★★ Irish Times

Fishamble: The New Play Company
Fishamble is an Olivier Award-winning, internationally acclaimed Irish theatre company, which discovers, develops and produces new work, across a range of scales. In 2018 Fishamble celebrated 30 years of new plays in Ireland through its many productions and extensive development programme.
 
Fishamble is funded by The Arts Council and Dublin City Council. Its international touring is supported by Culture Ireland.
 
Press information: Sinead O’Doherty, O’Doherty Communications 086 259 1070  [email protected]