What if Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom? What if Home Rule had passed? What if there was no War of Independence? No Civil War? No partition? What if the island had only one soccer team?
The year is 2019 and it is the eve of the Referendum. British Prime Minister Ursula Lysaght is returning to her hometown of Dublin to convince voters to Remain. With the threat of chaos in the streets, and personal conflict behind the scenes, the final debate is set to begin at BBC Dublin: Should Ireland leave the UK?
WINNER Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2019, for Best Director
WINNER Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2019, for Best Soundscape
A Play for Ireland
The Alternative is the chosen play from the A Play for Ireland initiative. As part of its 30th year in 2018, Fishamble set out to find one big, ambitious play, that bursts with humanity, and tackles a subject about which the playwright feels passionate – A Play for Ireland. This was a two-year process in association with Draíocht, The Everyman, Lime Tree Theatre/Belltable, Lyric Theatre, Pavilion Theatre, and Town Hall Theatre.
Reviews
Cast
Karen Ardiff
Karen was born in Dublin and graduated from the Samuel Beckett Centre in TCD.
Recent theatre credits include Rearing is Sparing by Thomas Kane-Byrne for Dublin Theatre Festival 2021, The Unmanageable Sisters (The Abbey) Stronger (Guna Nua) and Dublin will Show You How at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin and Inside the GPO and The Alternative for Fishamble Theatre Company.
Other stage credits include: Rathmines Road (Jim Culleton, Dublin Theatre Festival), Normal (Maisie Lee, WeGetHighonthisCollective), Angela’s Ashes (Thom Sutherland, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre), Oedipus (Wayne Jordan, Abbey Theatre), Peer Gynt (Lynne Parker, Rough Magic – Irish Times Best Supporting Actress nomination), Threepenny Opera (Wayne Jordan, Gate Theatre) Steel Magnolias with Mischa Barton (The Gaiety Theatre), and Love in the Title (Abbey/International tour – ESB/Irish Times Best Actress Award).
Work with other companies includes: The Colleen Bawn (Bedrock – Irish Times Best Supporting Actress nomination), The Stuff of Myth (Crazy Dog Audio Theatre & Lane Productions) and Helene Hannf in 84 Charing Cross Road (Andrews Lane Theatre – Irish Times Best Actress nomination for both).
Recent screen credits include the Oscar nominated Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley as well as RTÉ’s Acceptable Risk . Other Film/TV includes Noble (nominated for several international awards and three IFTAs), A Terrible Beauty… (Tile Films) as well as Evelyn with Pierce Brosnan.
Productions
Lorcan Cranitch
Lorcan began working in the early 1980’s in theatre in the UK He has been busy on both sides of the Irish Sea ever since.
In Dublin, he has worked mainly at the Abbey and Gate theatres, in plays by Tom Murphy, Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness, Arthur Miller, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Chekhov. In the UK, he has worked with major repertory companies, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the West End.
His film and television work includes, The Dig. Dancing at Lughnasa, Ballykisangel, Waking the Dead, Spooks, Omagh, ROME, Shackleton, and Cracker.
Productions
Maeve Fitzgerald
Maeve is a graduate of the Bachelor in Acting Studies at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College.
Recent theatre includes: The Thing About December and The Mai (Decadent Theatre), Wringer (Bewley’s Cafe Theatre), On Raftery’s Hill (Abbey Theatre)- nominee best actress Irish Times Theatre Awards 2019, Holy Mary (Breda Cashe Productions), Bailegangaire (Livin’ Dred/Nomad). Maeve has also appeared in various productions for The Gate Theatre, Verdant Productions, Tron Theatre, ANU, Tall Tales, Second Age and many others.
She won best supporting actress for Basin and was nominated best actress for After Miss Julie both at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2010. She will soon be appearing as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing for Rough Magic at the Kilkenny Arts Festival
Productions
Fionntan Larney
Fionntán is a writer and performer from Dublin.
Last year, Fionntán graduated from The Lir Academy and wrote ‘Beat.’ which premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival, before transferring to the Samuel Beckett Theatre for an extended run.
Acting credits include Travesty (The New Theatre) The Lost O’Casey (ANU/Abbey/Gate Theatre) and The Metals (Dublin Theatre Festival)
Productions
Rory Nolan
Rory Nolan’s theatre credits include DruidShakespeare: Richard III, Shelter, Waiting for Godot, DruidShakespeare: Richard II, Henry IV (Pts 1&2), Henry V, The Colleen Bawn, DruidMurphy – Plays by Tom Murphy (Druid). Northern Star, The Critic, Peer Gynt, The Importance of Being Earnest, Don Carlos, The Taming of the Shrew, Improbable Frequency, Is This About Sex? (Rough Magic); Chekhov’s First Play (Dead Centre); Postcards from the Ledge, Breaking Dad, Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, The Last Days of the Celtic Tiger, Sleeping Beauty (Landmark Productions); The Importance of Being Earnest, Bedroom Farce, A Christmas Carol, Death of a Salesman (Gate Theatre); She Stoops to Conquer, Aristocrats, The Government Inspector, Translations, Arrah Na Pogue, Macbeth, The Rivals, Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant, The Comedy of Errors, Heavenly Bodies, Big Love (Abbey Theatre); Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Livin’Dred/Nomad); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Corn Exchange); The Evils of Tobacco (Mangiare Theatre). Film & television includes: Acceptable Risk, The Delinquent Season, WILD, Charlie, Fair City, A Thousand Times Goodnight, The Baker Street Irregulars, Trouble in Paradise, Nothing Personal. Awards: Irish Times Irish Theatre Award, Best Supporting Actor (Waiting for Godot).
Productions
Rachel O’Byrne
Rachel’s theatre credits include The Mai (Decadent Theatre Company), Assassins, The Great Gatsby (2017, 2018/19), One for the Road, The Constant Wife (Gate Theatre); The Good Father, At the Ford (Rise Productions); The Sin Eaters (ANU Productions); The Remains of Maisie Duggan, By the Bog of Cats (Abbey Theatre); Brigit (Druid); Othello (Theatre Royal).
Film credits include Mammal (Fastnet Films) and Kaleidoscope (The Lir Academy). Rachel trained at The Lir Academy and holds a BA in Drama and French from Trinity College Dublin.
Productions
Arthur Riordan
Arthur Riordan is an actor and playwright. Arthur last worked with Fishamble on the Irish, UK and Australia tour of Swing. Other recent stage appearances include A Day (Olympia Theatre) From Under the Bed (Big Guerrilla Productions) Krapp’s Last Tape Theatre Royal, Waterford; and Kings of the Kilburn High Road with Livin’ Dred/Verdant productions. He has also worked extensively with Rough Magic (of which he is a founder member), as well as many other leading Irish theatre companies, including the Abbey and Peacock, Druid, Gaiety, Corca Dorca, and Pan Pan.
Arthur has also made numerous television and film appearances, including Out of Here, Ripper Street, Stella Days, Killinaskully, The Tudors, Fair City, The Clinic, The Baker Street Irregulars, The Chosen, Borstal Boy, Rat, The Last September, and Pitch n’ Putt with Beckett n’ Joyce.
Arthur’s writing includes the stage adaptation of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, libretto for Andrew Synnott’s opera Dubliners for Opera Theatre Company; book and lyrics for the hit musical The Train; an adaptation of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt; book and lyrics for the multi-award-winning hit musical Improbable Frequency and a one-man show, The Emergency Session (all for Rough Magic); a stage adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s Slattery’s Sago Saga (for The Performance Corporation); Love Me?! (for The Corn Exchange), and two collaborations with Des Bishop – Rap Eire (for Bickerstaffe), and Shooting Gallery (for Bedrock Productions).