November curtain call for Louise on the national stage

AWARD-winning Clonakilty author Louise O’Neill will have the stage adaptation of her novel Asking for It premiered at the Cork Midsummer Festival next year. It will also run in the Abbey Theatre from November 12th-24th. 

Tickets are on sale now and Louise said: ‘I still can’t believe that an adaptation of one of my novels is going to be performed on our national stage.’

It’s going to be a busy 2018 for Louise as her third novel, Almost Love, is  due out in March, while her feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid, called The Surface Breaks, will follow in May. 

And, as if all that wasn’t enough, screen adaptions are also in the pipeline for Asking for It and her first novel, Only Ever Yours.

Louise, whose father Michael runs the popular MJ O’Neill butcher shop in Clonakilty, and has been a key figure in Cork GAA, said: ‘Since the novel has been published, I have been overwhelmed by how people have responded. I receive emails from men and women all over the world who want to share their stories with me. They tell me that this book has helped them endure. It has made them feel as if they are not alone. They say that this book has, finally, given them a voice.’

This play will be produced by Landmark Productions and the Everyman, and co-commissioned by the Abbey Theatre. Conceived as a large-scale, technically ambitious production, it will be adapted for stage by Meadhbh McHugh in a collaboration with Annabelle Comyn, who also directs. 

Louise described the team involved as ‘some of the very best people working in Irish theatre’ adding that she knows ‘the book is in safe hands.’

Before its run on the national stage,  it will be performed in The Everyman, Cork city as part of the Midsummer Festival from  June 15th-23rd.

Meanwhile, the closing date is approaching for applicatations to a Young Playwrights’ Programme as part of the Midsummer Festival. 

Fighting Words Cork at Graffiti Theatre Company, will deliver a participatory and community programme, working with young people to champion the voices and creativity of 14-19 year-olds.  This programme will give eight young people the chance to participate in a series of workshops which will culminate in a professionally directed and performed staged reading of their work at The Everyman.  The closing date for applications is December 11th. Call 021 4397111 for more.