''Eden'' is an Irish play, written by Eugene O'Brien in 2001. It premiered at the

Peacock Theatre The Peacock Theatre (previously the Royalty Theatre) is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Portugal Street, near Aldwych. The 999-seat house is owned by, and comprises part of the London School of Economics and Political ...

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

in Dublin on 24 January 2001, and very successfully was put on in the West End of London and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in New York City. In 2001 the play won the ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' Best New Play of the Year Award and

Stewart Parker James Stewart Parker (20 October 1941 – 2 November 1988) was a Northern Irish playwright. Early life Born into a working-class family in East Belfast in 1941, he was one of the post-WWII generation to be the first in their family to attai ...

Prize.

Synopsis

The play is centred on an unhappily married young couple living in a small town in the

Irish Midlands The Midland Region (coded IE063) is a Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS Level III NUTS 3 statistical regions of the Republic of Ireland, statistical region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It consists of the territory of the C ...

over a weekend, and is told through perspectives, with many

monologues In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character (arts), character, most often to expres ...

. The husband, Billy, is a frequent drinker who always heads out to the local

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

on weekends. He is infatuated with a younger woman named Imelda Egan. The wife, Breda, has recently lost a lot of weight, and wants to regain the affections of her husband by heading out on the town for the first time in years and meeting him.

References

Irish plays Plays set in Ireland Plays about alcoholism 2001 plays {{2000s-play-stub