The Nun’s Wood
Written by Pat Kinevane Directed by Jim Culleton
In the grounds of a convent lies a wood. In the heart of a wood lies a secret. At the core of the secret lies a tragedy for the people of Tinaglasha.
The Nun’s Wood is a story of dangerous beauty, savage lovers and ancient sacrifice. It is an account of life on the remote island village of Tinaglasha, County Cork, where a woman visits a graveside and remembers the dark, tragic events of a hot summer in 1974, when the lives of four young people were changed forever by a deadly secret that had been kept hidden for a generation.
Touring
12 May 1998 – Project Arts Centre
Reviews
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‘Astonishing confidence and sophistication, all the more remarkable because it is (Kinevane’s) first play…an astonishing début ’
Sunday Tribune
Cast
Creative Team
Pat Kinevane
Pat is native of Cobh, County Cork. He has worked as an Actor in Ireland for the past 37 years. He began to write for the stage in 1997 and completed his first full length play The Nun’s Wood, which won a BBC Stewart Parker Trust Award in 1998 and was produced by Fishamble Theatre Company. Fishamble then produced his second play The Plains of Enna which premiered at the 1999 Dublin Theatre Festival. Since then, Pat has written a series of Five Solo Theatre pieces, namely Forgotten, Silent, Underneath, Before and King – all produced by Fishamble.
In 2016 with Fishamble, Pat won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance and writing of Silent and a Helen Hayes award in Washington DC for the same show in 2019. He has performed all Five pieces to huge acclaim throughout Ireland and Scotland, in London, Liverpool, Wales, Paris, Prague, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Serbia, Iceland, Belgium, Croatia, Bulgaria, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in Australia, Auckland and Christchurch New Zealand, across India, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Cleveland and eight full seasons in Los Angeles.
Film and TV acting credits include: Shoe (Oscar shortlisted 2011) King Arthur, Holding (ITV) Can’t Cope Won’t Cope, A Mother’s Love’s a Blessing, Black Day at Blackrock, Headrush, Beckett on Film, The Informant, When Brendan met Trudy, The Run of the Country, Far and Away, Mystics, The General, Ella Enchanted, A Soldier’s Song, Little Hoodie, Right now Ladies and Gents, My Dinner With Oswald, The Countess Cathleen, Vicious Circle, Ballykissangel, Glenroe, Fair City, Upwardly Mobile and The Late Late Show Murder Mystery.
For The Abbey Theatre his work includes : Good Evening Mr Collins, The Colleen Bawn, Dancing at Lughnasa (also at The Sydney Opera House), By the Bog of Cats, The Broken Jug, Sheep’s Milk on the Boil, The Rivals, Drama at Inish, The Chirpaun, Monkey and Three Laws of Motion.
For The Gate Theatre: The Home Place, Waiting for Godot, Salome, As You Like It, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Christmas Carol, Sharon’s Grave, She Stoops to Conquer, Arms and the Man, London Assurance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Thrupenny Opera, Not I, Act Without Words 2, and What Where.
Pat has appeared in Carthaginians for Druid, Studs for Passion Machine, Electra for B*spoke, Baby Jane for Corn Exchange, Translations for Lyceum Edinburgh, The Field and The Risen People at the Gaiety (plus numerous Pantos there), and three seasons with Team Theatre. In 2005 Pat played the title role of Roy Keane in the hit musical, I,Keano.
Productions
Jim Culleton
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.
Productions
Paul Keogan
Paul’s theatre credits include: Tiny Plays for Ireland, Strandline and True Believers (Fishamble, Dublin); The Visiting Hour, The Snapper, Hamlet, (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Sadie, Shirley Valentine, Double Cross, (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Happy Days, Blood in the Dirt, Postcards from The Ledge, The Walworth Farce (Landmark, Dublin); Walls and Windows, The Great Hunger, Last Orders at the Dockside, Citysong, On Raftery’s Hill (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); Love, Love, Love (Lyric Hammersmith); I Think We Are Alone (Frantic Assembly, UK Tour); Lady Windermere’s Fan (Classic Spring, London); A Streetcar Named Desire, Twelfth Night and The Hudsucker Proxy (Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse); Cyprus Avenue (Abbey, Dublin/Royal Court/Public, NYC); Harvest (Royal Court); The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic); Incantata, Trad, The Matchbox (Galway International); Far Away, Sacrifice at Easter (Corcadorca, Cork); The Gaul (Hull Truck Theatre); Blue/Orange, Tribes (Crucible, Sheffield), Novecento (Trafalgar Studios, London).
Opera and Dance: 20 Shots of Opera (Irish National Opera Film); Elektra and The Marriage of Figaro (Irish National Opera); The Return of Ulysses (Opera Collective, Ireland); Falstaff (Vienna Staatsoper); Dialogues des Carmelites (Grange Park Opera UK); Powder Her Face (Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao); The Fairy Queen (RIAM Dublin); Maria de Buenos Aires (Cork Opera House); Wake (Nationale Reisopera, Netherlands); Lost (Ballet Ireland); Sama & Flight (Rambert, London); No Man’s Land (English National Ballet); Cassandra, Hansel and Gretel (Royal Ballet, London).