Bailed Out
Written by Colin Murphy Directed by Conall Morrison
Hell is at the gates.
On November 28th 2010 Brian Lenihan, Ireland’s Minister for Finance, alone at the airport en route to Brussels looked into the snow and thought, ‘This is terrible. No Irish minister has ever had to do this before.’
Bailed Out! tells the story of how Ireland fell into the jaws of the Troika.
Following the smash-hit success of Guaranteed!, hailed by President Michael D. Higgins as ‘a very important play’, Fishamble presented this drama-documentary by playwright and journalist Colin Murphy.
Based on official accounts and off-the-record interviews, an ensemble of actors took up those documents for a stripped-back production, to embody myriad national and international figures as they wrestled with the crisis.
Bailed Out! left audiences informed, enraged and perhaps a little heart-broken!
Reviews
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‘Colin Murphy does a terrific job in using documentary material to maximum dramatic effect ….. Bailed Out! is the story of our lives ’
Irish Times -
This is rated 5 out of 5 stars
‘this must-se play…superbly delivered by a supple cast ’
Sunday Times -
‘‘the performers work wonders of energetic versatility in their various roles’ ’
Irish Mail on Sunday -
‘a compelling drama ’
Sunday Business Post -
‘slick and fast-moving’
Irish Examiner -
‘a must-see….[Fishamble] has injected a new and vital ingredient into the Irish theatre landscape…director Conall Morrison cleverly marshals a classy cast ’
Irish Independent
Cast
Ali White
Ali was born in Belfast and lives in Dublin. Recent theatre performances include: Chekhov’s First Play (Dead Centre) MESS (Festival Sarajevo, winner of best Production); Driving Home for Christmas (Lyric Belfast); Home Project (Draíocht Blanchardstown); Asking for it (Landmark); The Effect (Rough Magic); Lippy (Dead Centre); Northern Star (Rough Magic, Best Supporting Actress Irish Times Theatre Awards); Bailed Out! (Fishamble: The New Play Company); Deadly (Abbey Theatre); God of Carnage.
Recent Film and TV Work includes: Three Families (BBC); The Windermere Children (BBC); Christmas at Castle Hart (Hallmark); Cellar Door (Samson Films); The Secret (ITV); My name is Emily (Ferndale Films); The Bailout (Virgin Media). Writing Work Includes: Me, Mollser (Abbey Theatre Community and Education Department); Catching the fly (BBC Radio Ulster); The Clinic (Parallel Films); Any time Now (BBC NI/RTE).
Productions
Creative Team
Colin Murphy
Colin Murphy has written for stage, television, film and radio, and has been nominated for an Irish Theatre Award, an Irish Film and Television Academy award and a Celtic Media Award; his radio documentaries have received a Prix Marulic silver award and a New York Festivals bronze award. Two of his plays are published by Bloomsbury.
With Fishamble Theatre Company, he has written a series of political documentary dramas, two of which, Guaranteed! and Haughey/Gregory, are published by Bloomsbury. Guaranteed! was acclaimed as “a national event” by the Irish Times; it and its sequel, Bailed Out!, “injected a new and vital ingredient into the Irish theatre landscape”, wrote the Irish Independent.
His Easter Rising play, Inside the GPO, was described as “deeply moving and utterly memorable… deserves to be remembered as pivotal” by the Sunday Independent.
Colin is best known for his series of plays for Fishamble about Irish political history – recently collected in the volume Colin Murphy’s Political Plays, published by Methuen Drama. The United States vs Ulysses will tour Ireland in 2027, after a successful off-Broadway run at the Irish Arts Center, New York, in 2025. His documentary A Day in May, directed by Colm Quinn and produced by John Kelleher Media, is currently available on the RTÉ Player. He is the 2026 Rooney Writer Fellow at Trinity Long Room Hub. He writes a weekly column for the Sunday Independent.
Productions
Conall Morrison
Conall Morrison is a director and writer. As well as a long association with the Abbey Theatre, for which he had directed thirty plays, he has directed for the Royal Shakespeare Co, the Globe Theatre, Cameron Mackintosh, English National Opera, Landmark, Irish National Opera, the Lyric Theatre.
As well as several original plays, he has written many adaptations, including: Tarry Flynn, Antigone, Ghosts, The Travels of Jonathan Swift, Woyzeck in Winter.
He has previously directed three other plays by Colin Murphy for Fishamble Theatre Co.: Guaranteed, Bailed Out, Haughey/Gregory
Productions
Gavin Kostick
Gavin Kostick is a playwright, literary manager and independent dramaturg.
His works have been produced nationally and internationally. Favourite works for Fishamble include The Ash Fire, The Flesh Addict, The End of The Road and Invitation to a Journey (with CoisCeim and Crash Ensemble). The Leap is Gavin’s first play for children.
Further works include This is What We Sang for Kabosh, Fight Night, The Games People Play and At the Ford for Rise Productions and Gym Swim Party with Danielle Galligan in co-production with the O’Reilly Theatre. He wrote the libretto for the opera The Alma Fetish composed by Raymond Deane, performed at the National Concert Hall. As a performer he performed Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: Complete, a six hour show for Absolut Fringe, Dublin Theatre Festival and the London Festival of Literature at the Southbank.
Gavin is currently the literary manager of Fishamble: The New Play Company, a tutor in playwriting and dramaturgy in both The Lir Academy and Trinity College Dublin as well as being a core mentor on the Tenderfoot Transition Year programme for young writers at the Civic Theatre.
Particular favourite projects that Gavin has initiated and delivered with Fishamble include Show in a Bag (with Dublin Fringe and The Irish Theatre Institute), The New Play Clinic, The Dublin Fringe New Writing Award, Tiny Plays for Ireland and A Play for Ireland.
Both for Fishamble, and as an independent dramaturg, Gavin’s projects and works he has supported have gained significant national and international award recognition including amongst others Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, BBC Stewart Parker Trust, Zebbie Awards, Dublin Fringe Awards, Business to Arts, Olivier, Scotsman Fringe First, Herald Angel and Archangel and New York Critics’ Pick.
His own plays have also received similar national and international award recognition. Gavin has recently completed a new version of The Odyssey, supported by Kilkenny Arts Festival, ClassicsNow.