De Jimbe, a 7-piece band whose music is inspired by traditional Irish Music and the traditional drumming cultures of other countries around the World....and anyone else that Bisi Adigun plays with!
Movies
The Playboy of the Western World was first made into a film in 1962 with Siobhan McKenna playing Pegeen Mike and Gary Redmond playing Christy Mahon. In 1972 Sinead Cusack, John Hurt and Donal McCann starred in a new version that was made for television.
Roddy Doyle's trilogy of films about Barrystown The Commitments, The Van and The Snapper.
Books
All of Roddy Doyle's novels including Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha which won the Booker Prize in 1993 and his acclaimed novel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.
The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge, probably the most famous and infamous play of the Abbey Theatre’s repertoire, has constantly been revived and revisited since it was first performed at the Abbey Theatre on January 26th 1907.
In this hilarious but uncompromising new version, written by Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle, the Playboy, Christy Mahon, is Christopher Malomo, a well-educated refugee from Nigeria, on the run after he ‘killed’ his father with a pestle for pounding yams. Adigun and Doyle have transposed the play from the West of Ireland to a West Dublin suburb mixing the colloquial snap of Doyle’s language with the poetic voice of Nigerian born Adigun.
Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle first met at a workshop with Calypso in 2000 but it wasn’t until March 2005 that they began discussing working together on a new version of The Playboy of the Western World. As soon as Arambe Productions commissioned the play, Bisi and Roddy began to work on the script. After completing the first draft of the play it was submitted to the Abbey Literary Department. A reading of this first draft followed in June 2006. From the responses to this reading they began to develop a second draft at the Abbey Theatre.
This brand new production will hit the Abbey stage on September 29th as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, 50th anniversary celebrations. Directed by Jimmy Fay with set design by Anthony Lamble, lighting design by Sinead Wallace and costume design by Catherine Fay.
Giles Terera is Christy, Eileen Walsh who starred at the Abbey earlier this year in Mark O'Rowe's Terminus is Pegeen with Liam Carney playing her Da, Laurence Kinlan who was recently seen on screen in Small Engine Repair is her fiancé, Angeline Ball, who got her big break in Roddy Doyle's The Commitments, is the Widow Quin and Nollywood star Olu Jacobs is Christy’s father. Also stars Kate Brennan, Phelim Drew, Aoife Duffin, Charleen Gleeson and Joe Hanley.
To book tickets call 01 87 87 222 (no booking fees) or click here (subject to booking fees).
For further information on the Abbey Theatre please click here.
Who I'd like to meet: JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE considered one of Ireland’s most famous playwrights, was born in Dublin in 1871. Over his lifetime Synge wrote a number of highly successful plays but The Playboy of the Western World is generally considered his true masterpiece. His first play was rejected by Lady Gregory in 1901 but he didn't let this put him off. He quickly went on to write Riders to the Sea and In the Shadow of the Glen both of which were performed the following year and the latter was even performed as part of the opening run at the Abbey Theatre in 1904. He became director of the Abbey Theatre in 1905 but even then he continued to write. He completed The Well of the Saints, The Playboy of the Western World and The Tinker’s Wedding before he died at just 38 in 1909.
BISI ADIGUN, originally from Western Nigeria, spent three years in England before he found his home in Ireland in 1996. He has completed a B.A in Dramatic Arts in Nigeria, an M.A in Drama Studies in UCD, an M.A in Film/Television from DCU and now he is working on his PHD in Drama Studies in Trinity College Dublin. He founded Ireland's first ever African Theatre Company, Arambe Productions, in 2003. And if this wasn't enough he is also the drummer with the Irish-based multi-cultural group De Jimbe which has performed in Hanover, New York, Korea and Senegal!
RODDY DOYLE, is well-known to everyone in Ireland for his hugely successful Barrytown novels The Commitments, The Van and The Snapper (he also wrote the screenplays for all three!). He started off studying arts in UCD and spent 14 years as an English and Geography teacher before giving it up in 1993 to become a full-time writer. He has written over 10 books, including a children’s series. In 1993 he won the Booker Prize for his book Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. Doyle has continued to write screenplays for film and TV such as The Family, a hard-hitting drama about domestic violence, and the off-beat romantic comedy When Brendan Met Trudy.
The Playboy of the Western World's Friend Space (Top 6)
Thanks very much for the add. I did a drumming workshop with Bisi a few years back. It was great craic! Can't wait to see The Playboy. Good luck with the rehearsals. Regards Dublin City
Thank u for adding me to your friends. I'm looking forward to see you on stage in October (I'm moving to dublin then). I'm curious of your Playboy. All the best. Woolfey fom Poland.
