Irish playwright Conor McPherson's hit play, The Weir, will be seen for the first time in Ireland in July. Mr Michael Colgan, of the Gate theatre, yesterday confirmed that the play, currently playing to packed houses at the Royal Court's Duke of York theatre in London, would come to the theatre.
He said he could not be sure if the full London cast would come to Ireland but it was certain that Jim Norton, who plays the lead role, would take to the boards in the Gate. Ian Rickson would also continue as director.
The Weir, based on a series of conversations in a Co Leitrim pub, first opened in the Royal Court's 60-seater Downstairs Theatre in October. Such was its critical and popular success that it was moved to the larger Duke of York Theatre this month.
British critics have raved about McPherson's work, with Charles Spencer writing in the Daily Telegraph: "I have rarely been so convinced that I have just seen a modern classic."
McPherson, speaking from New York where another of his plays, St Nicholas, has just opened, said: "I'm really happy that The Weir is going to the Gate. It's such a great production that I'm glad that my family and friends will get a chance to see it."