Frank McGuinness – författare

An Englishman, an Irishman and an American are locked up together in a cell in the Middle East. As victims of political action, powerless to initiate change, what can they do? How do they live and survive? Frank McGuinness explores the daily crisis endured by hostages whose strength comes from communication, both subtle and mundane, from humour, wit and faith.Someone Who'll Watch Over Me premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1992 before transferring to the West End. On Broadway, it was awarded the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play and nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1993.

Nora Helmer, wife to Torvald and mother of three children, appears to enjoy living the live of a pampered, indulged child. But as her economic dependence becomes brutally clear, Nora's acceptance of the status quo undergoes a profound change. To the bewildered Torvald, himself caught in the tight web of a conservative society which demands that he exert strict control, Nora comes to see that the only possible true course of action is to leave the family home.

Set in Ireland in the sixteenth century, Mutabilitie explores the area where myth meets and transforms reality and where the harshness of life is transmuted into hope by the chance meeting of a poet and a playwright.

As the Second World War rages on in Europe, in Donegal there is another war closer to home. In Dolly West's kitchen, her family has its own conflicts to face as their lives are transformed with the arrival of allied troops across the border in Derry. War changes everything - its tragedies, its survivals and the history of the West family will be changed forever as this compelling play by award-winning playwright Frank McGuinness shows.

Conrad and Gabriel are lovers but when Alma arrives to tend the sick Gabriel, their lives are unpicked and remade. Frank McGuinness's powerful, subtle and funny play explores the territory where boundaries of love, devotion and hate coalesce.Gates of Gold premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2002.

In the summer of 1967 Greta Garbo comes to Donegal.Ireland is on the verge of violent change. Two couples are on the verge of parting. A woman tries to save her family, while a girl tries to save her future. Seemingly above it all is the loveliest and loneliest of all women, the great Garbo. But when the gods arrive, they can cause havoc, not least to themselves, as the divine Greta is to learn.Frank McGuinness's Greta Garbo Came to Donegal premiered at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in January, 2010.

Now we have a family, a rivalry, a purpose.A writer and his wife sit together in their garden. They are surrounded by a lifetime's work; their home, their gardens and their children. Rachel wants to be congratulated on her pregnancy, Maurice is struggling for his father's acceptance and Charlie needs his sacrifices to be acknowledged. A crisis has drawn this family together but their honesty may pull them apart.The Hanging Gardens by Frank McGuinness premiered at the Abbey Theatre in October 2013 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Now we have a family, a rivalry, a purpose.A writer and his wife sit together in their garden. They are surrounded by a lifetime's work; their home, their gardens and their children. Rachel wants to be congratulated on her pregnancy, Maurice is struggling for his father's acceptance and Charlie needs his sacrifices to be acknowledged. A crisis has drawn this family together but their honesty may pull them apart.The Hanging Gardens by Frank McGuinness premiered at the Abbey Theatre in October 2013 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Obsessed with his own salvation, the hermit Paulo dedicates himself to ten years of prayerful penance. When his faith wavers, the ever-watchful Devil seizes the moment to convince him that he shares the fate of one Enrico, a notorious Neapolitan gangster destined for damnation. Swearing vengeance, Paulo lashes out against God and assembles a band of rival outlaws. I'll match Enrico in mad badness.So, we're damned, both of us, are we?Then I'll be revenged on the whole world.And yet, even as their villainous crimes escalate, the possibility of redemption hovers over the two men, perhaps within reach.A fast-paced adventure story embracing bandits and beautiful women between glimpses of heaven and hell, this subversive and at times riotous exploration of faith and the transformative power of love races across the Italian landscape, relishing the unpredictability of fate, an extraordinary array of characters and their very real dilemmas. Sinner I am - pray for me.Damned by Despair, written in 1635 by the great Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina, is brought to vivid life in Frank McGuinness's new version, which premiered at the National Theatre, London, in October 2012.

And she grew to be a girl, my daughter. Sing a song, Mary. Sing for grandma and Granda. Sing.The ties that bind can never be broken. For Sal, they hang like a noose around her neck, just loose enough to keep a small but potent flame burning inside.A passionate story of love and hate, The Match Box by Frank McGuinness premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse in June 2012.

This first collection by Frank McGuinness contains plays from the 1980s, including his major work of that decade, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, a powerful and profoundly moving study of a group of Ulster Protestant volunteers in the Great War. The book also contains Carthaginians, set in a Derry graveyard in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday killings, Innocence, McGuinness's vigorous drama based on the life of Caravaggio, The Factory Girls and Baglady.

Conrad and Gabriel are lovers but when Alma arrives to tend the sick Gabriel, their lives are unpicked and remade. Frank McGuinness's powerful, subtle and funny play explores the territory where boundaries of love, devotion and hate coalesce.Gates of Gold premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2002.

This second collection of Frank McGuinness contains his beautifully lyrical plays from 1989 to 1999. The Bird Sanctuary is published here for the first time. The collection also includes Mary and Lizzie, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and Dolly West's Kitchen, and is introduced by the author.Mary and Lizzie'An extraordinary, outlandish script . . . Intriguing and sharply irreverent.' Time OutSomeone Who'll Watch Over Me'Frank McGuinness's brilliant play, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, not only penetrates the minds of three disparate man who fetch up as hostages in Lebanon, but also evokes a terrifyingly unnatural situation with remarkable conviction.' Sunday ExpressDolly West's Kitchen'No play has ever looked into Ireland's past and found there its future with the mix of wit and wisdom, death and despair, life and love, that characterises every line and every corner and every moment of Dolly West's Kitchen.' Spectator

Set in Ireland in the sixteenth century, Mutabilitie explores the area where myth meets and transforms reality and where the harshness of life is transmuted into hope by the chance meeting of a poet and a playwright.

'This powerful and subtle play . . . follows the experience of eight men who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of the First World War. It reaches a climax at the start of the terrible battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, the actual anniversary of the battle of the Boyne in 1690. The Somme, where the Ulster Division suffered heavy casualties, has, like the Boyne, come to have a sacred place in the Loyalist Protestant mind. It marks the Union sealed with blood. It stands for the ultimate test of Ulster's loyalty; a blood-sacrifice to match any made by Irish nationalists.' Times Literary SupplementObserve the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme was revived by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1994 as part of an acknowledgement of the peace process. The production was subsequently taken to the Edinburgh Festival in 1995 and opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Barbican Theatre, London, in March 1996.

An Englishman, an Irishman and an American are locked up together in a cell in the Middle East. As victims of political action, powerless to initiate change, what can they do? How do they live and survive? Frank McGuinness explores the daily crisis endured by hostages whose strength comes from communication, both subtle and mundane, from humour, wit and faith.Someone Who'll Watch Over Me premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in 1992 before transferring to the West End. On Broadway, it was awarded the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play and nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 1993.

But I can hear them speaking like magpies,And they mean to thieve his life,The Lord's anointed servant,They mean to kill God.Speaking Like Magpies, specially commissioned by the RSC as part of the Gunpowder Season to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, brings to vibrant life the background to this notorious event in British history. Frank McGuinness' play premiered at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in September 2005, its final performance marking the end of the RSC's Gunpowder Season on 5 November 2005.

The McKenna family convenes at their remote West Ireland holiday home to mark the 21st birthday of their late son Gene. Eccentric cousin Bridget appears along the causeway, inviting herself for birthday cake and conversation, and ready to expose a family secret. Even Margaret, the unstoppable mother, and Leo, the ever-calm father, can't hold things together in the face of an unexpected visit from the past.There Came a Gypsy Riding premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in January 2007.

The year is 1904 in the city of Dublin. Gretta and Gabriel Conroy attend the Morkan Sisters annual dinner on the Feast of the Epiphany and the last day of Christmas. An evening of laughter, music and dance ends in an epiphany for Gabriel.Recognised as a masterpiece, The Dead, the short story from James Joyce's Dubliners, is dramatised by Frank McGuinness. The play premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in December 2012.

Speak. Speak loud and clear. Let them hear you in Belfast. Let the Fenians hear it everywhere. Let the Hun hear the sons of Ulster preaching war.On 1 July 1916, the 36th (Ulster) Division took part in one of the bloodiest battles in human history, the Battle of the Somme. In the extraordinary circumstances of World War I, eight ordinary men are changed, changed utterly.Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme premiered on the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985.'A great act of theatrical generosity.' GUARDIAN

The Day family are Irish country-music royalty and Irene is their queen. Her relatives are completely dependent on her success. But as Irene's star fades, the Days are facing financial destruction. When the heir to her musical throne, Jackie Day, returns from the States with a new girlfriend, resentments simmer. Does Irene have the strength to hold the clan together? And will Jackie save them with the gift of a song?

You used to swing me on our garden gate. In and out, in and out - out and in, me, on top of the gate, safe because I was in your arms, my father's big strong arms.Recalling events that may or may not have happened, people he may or may not have known, an elderly father weaves his life, funny, angry, poignant, as if in a dream.His daughter, perched outside his window, as close as the pandemic allows, responds with conflicting memories. They sing and argue, they broach dangerous ground, their profound love apparent despite themselves, until the visiting hour is up.Written during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, Frank McGuinness's The Visiting Hour premiered in April 2021 at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in the first online Gate At Home production.

You used to swing me on our garden gate. In and out, in and out - out and in, me, on top of the gate, safe because I was in your arms, my father's big strong arms.Recalling events that may or may not have happened, people he may or may not have known, an elderly father weaves his life, funny, angry, poignant, as if in a dream.His daughter, perched outside his window, as close as the pandemic allows, responds with conflicting memories. They sing and argue, they broach dangerous ground, their profound love apparent despite themselves, until the visiting hour is up.Written during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, Frank McGuinness's The Visiting Hour premiered in April 2021 at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in the first online Gate At Home production.

I am honoured to meet you.You are, as they say, a man after my own heart.And you have lifted mine.My heart, that is.Two men, together, on the edge of heaven. In a strange restaurant, two American giants who revere each other, Groucho Marx and T. S. Eliot, meet for dinner. Both in their own ways great defiant spirits, they create magic and anarchy, revealing secrets and sorrows. The evening is presided over by the Proprietor, who seems to control the workings of the universe. Or perhaps not.All is revealed, or nearly so. A fast-paced fictional dinner date like no other, Frank McGuinness's Dinner With Groucho was first produced by b*spoke theatre company at The Civic, Dublin, in September 2022.

I am honoured to meet you.You are, as they say, a man after my own heart.And you have lifted mine.My heart, that is.Two men, together, on the edge of heaven. In a strange restaurant, two American giants who revere each other, Groucho Marx and T. S. Eliot, meet for dinner. Both in their own ways great defiant spirits, they create magic and anarchy, revealing secrets and sorrows. The evening is presided over by the Proprietor, who seems to control the workings of the universe. Or perhaps not.All is revealed, or nearly so.A fast-paced fictional dinner date like no other, Frank McGuinness's Dinner With Groucho was first produced by b*spoke theatre company at The Civic, Dublin, in September 2022.

Let's see how crafty a picture you paint. You're making a demon out of a saint.In this spectacular dramatic comedy, the villainous Tartuffe shocks and enthrals with his deceptive powers. Charming to some, a danger to others, one family risks losing everything if he gets his way. Molière's exuberant seventeenth-century classic is brought back to life in an audacious contemporary Irish version by Frank McGuinness. Tartuffe premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in March 2023.

Let's see how crafty a picture you paint. You're making a demon out of a saint.In this spectacular dramatic comedy, the villainous Tartuffe shocks and enthrals with his deceptive powers. Charming to some, a danger to others, one family risks losing everything if he gets his way. Molière's exuberant seventeenth-century classic is brought back to life in an audacious contemporary Irish version by Frank McGuinness. Tartuffe premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in March 2023.

his cheekbones so beautiful I have to close my eyes in case he blinds meA young man relives the youth he spent in 'a refuge for wayward boys'. In his memories, the forces of faith, power and money dominate this starkly unsettling institution, where not everything is as it seems. The boys call it Gomorrah.Gomorrah is a mirror to the contradictions of 1970s Ulster, a place where violence, control and desire meet. Now, years later, the man must make peace with his past to find his way in the world.Do You Come From Gomorrah? opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in April 2026.