A LONDON revival of David Ireland’s debut play will get underway this month.
What The Animals Say will open at the Finborough Theatre on September 29 where it will enjoy a four-week run.
The play centres on two ex-classmates who reconnect while waiting for the Stranraer ferry back to Belfast.
Ireland, who was born in Belfast but raised in Co. Down, wrote the piece in 2009 and it was first performed at Òran Mór in Glasgow that year as part of their 'A Play, A Pie and A Pint' lunchtime theatre season.
“Jimmy is a struggling actor chasing the break that never comes,” a spokesperson for the Finborough Theatre explains.
What The Animals Say gets a London revival this month“Eddie is a celebrity footballer who, despite being Protestant, is the captain of Celtic.”
They add: “At first, they reconnect over football, Father Ted and the staunch Unionist culture they grew up in, but what begins as banter spirals into confrontation as buried resentments, betrayal and violence rise to the surface.”
Matthew Blaney and Robbie Martin have been cast in the production which is being produced by Choke On Laughter LTD in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.
“Provocative and hilarious, David Ireland’s explosive debut play is a portrait of two men trapped by the stories they tell themselves and each other,” the spokesperson added.
Harry Burton directs the production, which marks the fourth appearance of works by Ireland at the theatre.
Previous works Not Now (2022), Yes So I Said Yes (2021) and Everything Between Us (2017) were all performed at the Finborough Theatre.
What the Animals Say runs at the Finborough Theatre from September 29 until October 24.
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