''The Walworth Farce'' is a 2006 play by

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on 7 February 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Walsh ...

Plot

A council flat on the Walworth Road,

Elephant and Castle Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The n ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Dinny is exiled from his native

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

with his two sons Blake and Sean. Every day, holed up in the flat, they endlessly perform a play which depicts, in extremely garbled form, their last day in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, which featured the death of Dinny's mother, followed by Dinny murdering his brother and sister-in-law. Blake plays all the female roles in a variety of wigs, while Sean plays the male roles. They also perform as younger versions of themselves, in which they bully other children and kill a dog. As they repeat the play (to an audience of nobody), it becomes apparent that this is a script that is constantly revised and modified, and features many bizarre events (such as Dinny's mother and neighbour dying in an accident involving a horse and a speedboat). Sean has some memory of the real events, and tells Blake (who has no memory of them) that the boys were in reality quiet children who planned to become

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s and

bus driver A bus driver, bus operator, or bus captain is a person who drives buses for a living. Description Bus drivers must have a special license above and beyond a regular driver's licence. Bus drivers typically drive their vehicles between bus st ...

s when they grew up, and that their depiction as young sadists is their father's invention. Only Sean is permitted to leave the flat, walking down fifteen flights of stairs to go to the local

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

supermarket for "supplies". One day he accidentally brings back the wrong shopping, and the cashier, Hayley, who has developed a connection to Sean, goes to the flat to give him his groceries. The first act ends with her entrance into the flat, as the present day and reality intrude on Dinny's recreation of an imagined past. The family struggle to integrate Hayley into the performance as she struggles to escape, and to bring Sean with her.

Performance history

''The Walworth Farce'' premiered at the Town Hall Theatre,

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

on 20 March 2006, commissioned by the

Druid Theatre Company The Druid Theatre Company, referred to as Druid, is an Irish theatre company, based in Galway, Ireland. As well as touring extensively across Ireland, the company's productions have played internationally to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the ...

. This first production starred Denis Conway as Dinny, Garrett Lombard as Blake, Aaron Monaghan as Sean and Syan Blake as Hayley. A 2008 run at New York’s

St. Ann’s Warehouse St. Ann's Warehouse is a performing arts institution in Brooklyn, New York City. It began when the St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity Church on Montague Street was converted into a venue for classical music in 1980. Initially known as ''Arts at St. ...

saw Tadhg Murphy and Mercy Ojelade as Blake and Hayley, respectively, while a 2015 revival, produced by

Landmark Productions Landmark Productions is a theatre company, theatre production company in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 2003 by Anne Clarke (theatre producer), Anne Clarke. The company has forged partnerships with writers and other companies, and has toured its show ...

at the Olympia Theatre,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

starred real-life father and sons

Brendan Gleeson Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor. He has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, two British Independent Film Awards and three IFTA Awards, along with nominations for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Aw ...

Domhnall Gleeson Domhnall Gleeson (; born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and screenwriter. The son of actor Brendan Gleeson, he studied media arts at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He began his career by directing and writing several short films, and garne ...

and Brian Gleeson as Dinny, Blake and Sean respectively; Leona Allen played Hayley. In January 2023, the play was announced as the opening show for the new home of the

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London with two venues, both located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They ident ...

at Highpoint in Elephant and Castle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walworth Farce, The 2006 plays Plays by Enda Walsh