NT Live
The Playboy of the Western World
John Millington Synge’s riveting play of youth and self-discovery, starring Nicola Coughlan, Eanna Hardwicke and Siobhan McSweeney in "an uproarious and haunting portrait of rural Irish life".
Director: Caitríona McLaughlin
Cast includes: Éanna Hardwicke, Nicola Coughlan, Siobhán McSweeney
150 MINS INCLUDING INTERVAL / 2026 / UK / ENGLISH
Directed for the National Theatre by Caitríona McLaughlin, Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) joins Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment) and Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls) in John Millington Synge’s riveting play of youth and self-discovery.
Considered a centerpiece of the Irish Literary Revival, but initially met with riots and protests in Dublin in 1907 when it first premiered, this tragi-comedy is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s. It tells the story of Christy Mahon, a young man running away from his farm, claiming he killed his father and finding it turns him into something of a celebrity in the local farming community, with women falling at his feet and men hailing him a hero. All is not what it seems and when the truth is revealed the locals turn against him.
"The Playboy of the Western World is a twisty treat", The i Paper
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