To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf | adapted by Marina Carr

Hatch Theatre Company and The Everyman in association with Pavilion Theatre and Cork Midsummer Festival present Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse.

This masterpiece of modernism is brought vividly to dramatic life by Ireland’s foremost playwright Marina Carr in a world premiere from award-winning director Annabelle Comyn. Filmed on the Everyman stage this digital capture of the stage production will be broadcast as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival on 25^th June 2021.

“But what have I done with my life? Only this? An infinitely long table, plates, knives. And at the far end, you, my husband, sitting in a heap. Frowning.”

The play opens on the Ramsay family and carefree days spent with friends by the sea. Children play, Mr Carmichael reclines with handkerchief over his face, Lily paints her picture and six year old James wants to sail to the Lighthouse. Life is sweet.

But what appears tranquil on the surface, masks deep currents of longing and frustration which the characters struggle to contain.

With the promise of a trip to the Lighthouse cancelled tensions in the home, and beyond, rupture violently and fling these lives into turmoil and change. The world is in transition and death becomes a footnote to a seismic global change, those who remain try to cope in a new era and with the loss that it brings.

An all-star cast includes Maura Bird, Gillian Buckle, Colin Campbell, Declan Conlon, Derbhle Crotty, Aoife Duffin, Nick Dunning, Kwaku Fortune, Olwen Fouere, and Alex Murphy. To The Lighthouse receives its world premiere, as part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2021.

Woolf’s text is written in a form where thoughts and emotions are foregrounded. Marina Carr’s adaptation captures the constant flux of the characters’ inner thoughts, and re-imagines them in a theatrical landscape. It recalls childhood emotions and highlights emptiness and yearning in adult relationships. Among the play’s many themes are those of loss, subjectivity, the nature of art, unity and the problem of perception.

Cast
Maura Bird
Gillian Buckle
Colin Campbell
Declan Conlon
Derbhle Crotty
Aoife Duffin
Nick Dunning
Kwaku Fortune
Olwen Fouéré
Kyle Hixon

Director
Annabelle Comyn

Set and lighting design
Aedin Cosgrove

Sound design and composition
Philip Stewart

Costume design
Molly O’Cathain and Saileóg O’Halloran

Av design and digital capture
José Miguel Jiménez

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Yet all of which are incredibly rich in theatricality, courtesy of top drawer direction from Annabelle Comyn … In To The Lighthouse Crotty, Carr and Comyn craft an extraordinary tour de force. Capturing that which cannot be captured in language, and putting on stage, and screen, that which cannot be seen. Unmissable.”
the arts review

“Virginia Woolf’s modernism finds astute expression in this spectacular production by Hatch Theatre Company and The Everyman … an exciting fusion of intellectual and dramatic tension — a work of sparkling originality and innovation.”
the independent

“The result is a magnificent success, due in equal parts to Comyn’s taut, intelligent direction, and dazzling performances of unmatched technical skill and intense depth from everyone concerned … Await the live stage version; it will be a major event.”
the sunday independent

⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Fierce and comic thoughts spoken out loud …In director Annabelle Comyn’s beautifully orchestrated production.”
the guardian

“A cast of consummate quality is led brilliantly by Derbhle Crotty as Mrs Ramsay and Declan Conlon as her husband… Beguildness is the only word for it.”
the irish times

“A beacon of excellence. What Comyn and director of photography José Miguel Jiménez have created is an almost arthouse-style film, shot in Cork’s Everyman.”
the sunday times

“a gloriously ambitious and inventive production”
the irish examiner

“Carr’s To the Lighthouse illuminates the way …in a stunning filmed version by Annabelle Comyn at The Everyman Palace … a distinctly arthouse aesthetic.”
the sunday business post