Birthright – Finborough Theatre (original) (raw)

Tuesday, 5 September 2023 - Saturday, 30 September 2023

“There should be no favourites in this house, nor in any other house, neither.”

★★★★★ Five Stars, London Pub Theatres
★★★★ Four and a Half Stars, The Reviews Hub
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★★★★ Four Stars, North West End
★★★★ Four Stars, LondonTheatre1
★★★★ Four Stars, Reviewsgate
★★★★ Four Stars, Breaking the Fourth Wall
Fringe Review Hidden Gem
OffWestEnd Award nomination for Set Design
OffWestEnd Award nomination for Choreography and Movement
London Pub Theatres Standing Ovation Award nomination

Rural Ireland just before the First World War.

Bat and Maura Morrissey have two fine sons. Hugh is idealistic and accomplished: an altar boy, poet, captain of the hurling team, and pride of his mother. Shane is a born farmer: diligent, obedient, and hardworking.

Much to Bat’s frustration, tradition dictates that Hugh is set to take over the farm, whilst Shane will be forced to emigrate to America.

Over the course of one day, family ambition collides with Hugh’s birthright, and the close-knit family is torn apart forever…

Inspired by the biblical story of Esau and Jacob, Birthright is a forgotten masterpiece of Irish theatre.

Birthright was first performed in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1910 and was playwright T. C. Murray’s Abbey Theatre debut. It was subsequently seen in both the West End and on Broadway, and toured the USA alongside Synge’s In the Shadow of the Glen where it caused huge controversy among Irish-American audiences. It was last seen in London at the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead, in 1931, and is now rediscovered by the Finborough Theatre for the first time in over 90 years.

Covid Safe In order to ensure that the Finborough Theatre remains still accessible for those who are CEV (Clinically Extremely Vulnerable) or those who would just prefer it, mask wearing remains mandatory for all Sunday performances.

For information on accessibility at the Finborough Theatre, click here

Rosie Armstrong Maura Morrissey Trained at Rose Bruford College. Theatre includes A Sherlock Carol (Marylebone Theatre), Henry V (Shakespeare at The Tobacco Factory, Bristol), This Land (Pentabus and Salisbury Playhouse), Dangerous Corner (National Tour) and A Small Family Business (National Theatre), Chimerica (West End), Blair’s Children (Cockpit Theatre), The Incredible Dr. Guttmann (National Tour), Potted Panto (West End), Miracle on 34th Street (Farnham Maltings), Sleeping Beauty (Dukes Theatre, Lancaster), I Am A Superhero (Theatre 503 and Old Vic New Voices), Midnight (West End and Tour), and four open air tours with The Rude Mechanicals. Television includes King Gary. Radio includes The Papers of A.J Wentworth, The Change and Ring Around the Bath.

Pádraig Lynch Bat Morrissey Productions at the Finborough Theatre include The Non Stop Connelly Show. Trained at Drama Centre London. Theatre includes The House on Cold Hill (UK Tour) Suffragette City (Palladium), The Ruffian on the Stars (Brighton Fringe), The Plough and the Stars (National Theatre), Antigone in New York (Rag Factory), A View from the Bridge (The Young Vic and Wyndham’s Theatre), Let the Right One In (National Theatre Scotland and Apollo Theatre), The Kindness of Strangers (Curious Directives at Southwark Playhouse), The Trial (Barbican Theatre), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Salisbury Playhouse), Mariana Pineda (Arcola Theatre), Zoyka’s Apartment (Old Red Lion Theatre and Edinburgh Festival), Golden Boy (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford), Juno and the Paycock (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Macbeth (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Hamlet (Theatr Clwyd), Roosters (Bush Theatre), By The Border (National Theatre), and Dracula (Hackney Empire). Film includes N_orthern Paradigm, Conspiracy of Silence, The Killing Zone, The Summer House, Taffin, The_ Courier and Night Shift. Television includes Fair City and The Cloning of Joanna May.

Tuesday, 5 September 2023 - Saturday, 30 September 2023

Approximately 65 minutes with no interval.