Wáltsáil Abhaile/Waltzing Home

March 2023, the .

A bilingual play about Micheál Mac Liammoir, the legendary actor and writer, and his journey through one night and a lifetime. Staged at the Taibhdhreach Theater in Galway in March 2023.

Ar oíche dhorcha, stopann an seoid aosta, Mac Liammóir, do phléisiúr beag. Diúltaíonn Garda óg é agus tugann sé é abhaile slán sábháilte… ach tá stoirm ag teacht.

On a dark night, an ageing Mac Liammoir stops for a ‘small pleasure.’ He is denied by a young Garda who safeguards him home – but there’s a storm coming. ‘Wáltsáil Abhaile’ is a surreal play about the life of the great actor, director and theatre impressario Micheál Mac Liammoir. Presented as a theatrical multimedia fantasia, ‘Mac,’ in the autumn of his years, goes on a dreamlike journey that weaves in and out of time and place, reality and fantasy.

‘A spiritual homecoming’: Micheál MacLiammóir returns to his Galway theatre

Gaeilgeoirí

This was my first stage play, produced by the Abbey Theatre during the Dublin Theatre Festival of 1981. It feels like a lifetime ago now. Collaborating with actors and hearing my lines spoken for the first time was a gateway into a world I had yearned for. I was incredibly fortunate to have Sean McCarthy, who was then the script editor at the Abbey, direct the play.

Imeachtaí na Saoirse

“Imeachtaí na Saoirse”, directed by Ray Yeates, was produced at the Abbey two years later. This period, when Joe Dowling was artistic director of the Abbey, was notable for the number of new writers and directors whose first works were produced there. 

Ag Ealaín in Éirinn

I loved working on this production with director Ray Yeates and musical director Garvin Gallagher. It was a musical revue where Lady Gregory, Peig, Padraic Ó Conaire, and Micheál MacLiammoir meet up in a Dublin gym. They are led around 1980s Dublin by a socialite eager to introduce them to the modern world.

The Native Ground & Dreamwalker

In the late 1980s I worked as playwright in residence with Team Theatre Company for 2 years. I wrote two plays in collaboration with the company. The Native Ground, directed by Ronan Smith and Dreamwalker, directed by Patrick Sutton. 

Blood Guilty

Blood Guilty is a one-act play that was inspired by some real events. It was first performed in 1989. One night, Richard Harris, who was in Ireland to film The Field, came to see it. After the show, he told me he had been mesmerised by the acting of the great John Cowley.

Silverlands

Silverlands was first produced by the Abbey in 1992, directed by Andy Hinds with a wonderful cast of young Irish actors.

An Solas Dearg

An Solas Dearg was produced by Amharclann de hÍde and staged at the Peacock Theatre in 1995. It was directed by the late Deirdre Friel, who had made some remarkable television drama in the 1970s. I got to know her when I was devising the pilot series of Ros na Rún in 1992. Her talent, humour, and energy were the foundation for the long-term success of that series. 

AUDIO

The Last Commissioner

This radio comedy was written a few years before the UK voted on Brexit. A futuristic fantasy about an event that had not yet happened. The Eurovision Song Contest plays a big role in the drama. Listen here :

RTE Drama On One – The Last Commissioner

Kate O’Toole plays the part of Rachel Bell in The Last Commissioner by Antoine Ó Flatharta. The play is set in Brussels in the not too distant future. In London, UKIP are part of a new coalition government, Sinn Féin make up part of the Dublin Coalition government and the almost bankrupt Uzikistan has won the Eurovision Song Contest. The UK is about to vote on leaving the EU. Rachel Bell may be the last UK EU commissioner which spurs the pro European Rachel and her young Irish spokesperson Patrick Sarsfield, to conspire to make the EU more relevant to the people, with disastrous results for Anglo Irish relations.

Kate O’Toole is Commissioner Rachel Bell

David Pearse plays Patrick Sarsfield

Janet Moran was Alma Ní Ní Dhubhghaill

Mirjana Rendulic played the part of Malina Pavich

Directed by Gorretti Slavin

The Series producer of Drama on One is Kevin Reynolds