I’m not gonna lie: when I first read that this show was 3-½ hours long with only one intermission plus a brief 5 minute pause, and I almost didn’t go. “How can I sit still and be entertained for so long?” I asked myself (let alone control the ol’ bladder!).

Boy, am I glad I went!!

Despite the fact the story takes place in virtually one setting for the duration of the show, it is riveting. The time flew by, and I literally wasn’t ready for it to end.

With a cast of 20+ actors ranging in age from a just a few months (yes, there’s a live infant on stage!) to late 70’s, the show perfectly encapsulates life on an Irish farm in 1980s, with a multi-generational, extended family living under the shadow of social unrest, hunger strikes, Margaret Thatcher, and the Irish Republican Army. The story peels itself back like an onion with secret after secret coming to light, and is completely compelling from start to finish.

It’s easy to see why the play won 10 major theatre awards in London (including the Olivier Award for Best New Play). Although the original London cast is set to move on from Broadway starting in mid-February 2019, the material will clearly hold up and adapt to its new company, which will include the likes of Brian D’Arcy James, and Tony Winner® Blair Brown (who joins the cast in April).

Go. See. It.

– Paul, Founder, My Theatre Weekend