Marina Carr's On Raftery's Hill opens in Galway's Town Hall Theatre next Tuesday, and it is a mark of the young author's reputation that her play is, sight unseen, already moving to Dublin's Gate Theatre at the end of May, then to the US as part of an Irish Festival at the Kennedy Centre and, after that, to London at the end of July.
That's confidence, and it stems from the success of such earlier works as The Mai and Portia Coughlan, and the fact that the production is a collaboration between Galway's Druid company and London's Royal Court, which have previously joined forces with distinction. Director Garry Hynes and a first-rate production team add to the eager anticipation.