‘RESTORATION OF HOPE’ A THRILLING PLAY
ABOVE AND LEFT: Some of the photo from Phelim Ó Laoghaire’s ‘Between Two Waves of the Sea’ exhibition at Signal Arts inBray. Speckintime & High Seas Productions present ‘The Restoration of Hope’ by Philip St John at Mermaid Arts Centre on Friday, November 17.
The Restoration of Hope is a thrilling alternative to this season’s pantomimes.
In a Dublin office a few days before Christmas, entrepreneur Hope Whyte is restored to life. Will she honour the terms of a blood-chilling contract signed in the next world, or defy her mentor Larry McGrath and endure a fate worse than death?
At a time when we are uncovering hidden worlds in our society – the banks, the guards, politics and the arts - Philip St John’s wickedly funny thriller, a successor to the acclaimed Temptress, takes us on an exhilarating trip into the biggest, most dangerous secret of all.
Wicklow playwright Philip St John (Temptress, On City Water Hill, The Sylvia) is making a name for himself as one of Ireland’s most distinctive voices in Irish theatre. His dark comedies expose mysterious and eerie worlds that intersect our own. Beneath the witty, comic narrative and power play are deep seated themes that unsettle the audience.
‘Under director Matthew Ralli’s eye, pace never slackens and the rich humour in St John’s excellent script is given full expression . . . utterly enjoyable and unrelentingly hilarious, Temptress is a wonderfully seductive production’ – Examiner
The Restoration of Hope by Philip St John is commissioned by Mermaid Arts Centre.
Starring Jody O’Neill (RTE’s Charlie, Damo & Ivor; theatre – Rough Magic’s Plaza Suite & Digging for Fire), Nick Devlin (Film Factory Entertainment’s blockbuster film Sara’s Notebook), Shane O’Regan (Verdant’s Production of Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful).
Matthew Ralli, founder and artistic director of Speckintime, is a director specialising in collaborating with emerging playwrights to support and develop their work from page to stage. Supported by Dublin City Council, Wicklow County Arts Office, Mermaid Arts Centre, The New Theatre, Fishamble New Play Clinic.