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THE IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE presents

The New York Premiere of
 

Extended To November 25, 2007!

Set in rural ireland and PACED WITH IRRESISTIBLE MELODRAMATIC MOMENTUM, John B. Keane's 1959 potboiler feels like the missing link between the hardscrabble folk dramas of O'Casey and Synge and the corruscating latter-day black comedies of McDonagh and McPherson. In director Ciaran O'Reilly's crackling New York premiere production, this story of a rich and elderly bachelor (Christopher Joseph Jones) who connives to win the hand of a pretty teen orphan (Wrenn Schmidt) unfolds with heartside grit and fablelike force.-Time Out

Theatre is all about creating a reality and making it not just immediate, but livable for us in the audience. SIVE, BY JOHN B. KEANE AT THE IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, INSPIRED SUCH REVERENCE ON THE NIGHT I SAW IT, TO THE POINT THAT GASPS WERE SOMETIMES AUDIBLE. This careful rendition of the play provides an authentic feel to the reality it strives for with vivid period detail and speech; Director Ciarán O'Reilly gives the story its darkest, bleakest shadings and kinetic pacing, and these prove emotionally effective as the tragedy unfolds. All the designers-Charles Corcoran (set), Martha Hally (costumes), Jason Lyons (lighting), Zachary Williamson (sound), and Robert-Charles Vallance (wigs and hair)-are instrumental in framing this world believably for us. Wrenn Schmidt as Sive is quietly endearing and ultimately heart-breaking. Terry Donnelly's Nanna is a frail presence of conscience; her alternate pleas for help for Sive and scolding of Mena's greed testify to her verbal dexterity. The pair of tinkers are played by James Barry and Donie Carroll with great humility and are truly show-stoppers. Patrick Fitzgerald's sly Thomasheen is a villain who actually made the audience around me hiss.   -- NY Theatre.com

A SOLID PRODUCTION. Ms. Toibin gives an uncompromising performance as the despicable Mena, allowing us to see that her meanness was bred by her own poverty and disappointments. As the matchmaker matter-of-factly states, there is no place for love in such hardscrabble lives. The music and songs performed by James Barry and Donie Carroll before and during the play, in character as tinkers, add an enjoyable touch. -- NY Times

 THE IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE HAS MOUNTED A HANDSOME PRODUCTION WITH AN ANIMATED CAST. Keane, who is best known for The Field, has a felicity with language and ensures that Sive engages the ear. ---Backstage

While The Irish Rep's production could blow down the walls with its bluster, it still serves the play's most mythical moments. In a performance that grounds the production, Fianna Toibin avoids turning her role into a shrieking caricature. Instead, director Ciaran O'Reilly guides her toward craftier evil, so that Mena cloaks her greed with phony righteousness. SHE MANIPULATES PEOPLE WITH SUCH SKILL THAT IT'S TEMPTING TO CLAP AND HISS AT THE SAME TIME  --Variety

THE IRISH REPERTORY STRIKES AGAIN. CONTINUING ITS WELCOME STREAK OF PROVIDING EFFECTIVE STAGING OF INTRIGUING WORKS.  IT EFFECTIVELY DELINEATES THE ASSORTMENT OF CHARACTERS WELL-WRITTEN BY THE AUTHOR AND BROUGHT DRAMATICALLY TO LIFE BY A FIRST-RATE CAST.  Fitzgerald makes a strong impression as the matchmaker. Toibin is also particularly effective and relentlessly true to her character. Director Ciarán O'Reilly builds the tension to a high pitch but makes the tale more than the simple melodrama it might become.   -William Wolf

SIVE IS AN ACTING FEST FOR NINE ACTORS and Ciaran O'Reilly's production is up to the mark. The title role is beautifully underplayed by Wrenn Schmidt who is both heartbreakingly passive and innocent. As her mercenary aunt, Fiana Toibin is by turns vicious and manipulative, Patrick Fitzgerald makes the matchmaker Thomasheen Sean Rua a despicably cunning rascal. Aidan Redmond is suitably conflicted as Mike Glavin, Sive's uncle Mark Thornton's Liam is a stalwart youth trapped by environment and age-old feuds. As the prospective bridegroom who is at least three times Sive's age, the white haired Christopher Joseph Jones' trembling hands and cackling laugh cause the marriage to Sive to be that much more horrifying THE SECOND ACT AS THE MARRIAGE NEARS IS AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER.  --Theatre Scene.net

A HEARTFELT AND BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED NEW PRODUCTION.  Aidan Redmond, an actor with an unusually powerful stage presence, is making an extremely impressive Rep debut. In another pitch-perfect debut performance, Wrenn Schmidt is a pure and shining Sive.   One of the genuine wonders of O'Reilly's meticulous and generally excellent production is that it never allows Keane's characters to come across as country bumpkins. It merits the attention of any theatergoer seriously interested in drama.  -Irish Echo

A riveting and often funny drama. THE EVER DELIGHTFUL TERRY DONNELLY SHINES when flashing a sarcastic wit or when doting lovingly over her granddaughter.  James Barry nearly steals the show as the bodhran playing Carthalawn"  -- Irish Examiner.

In the role of Mena, Sive's malevolent guardian, Fiana Toibin crackles with almost electrical intensity as the embodiment of human wickedness wrapped up in a veneer of righteousness. TOIBIN'S PERFORMANCE IS QUIETLY EXHILARATING.  Mena and her cohort, the half-vagrant town matchmaker Thomasheen, plot and cackle at their own ingenuity without a moment's thought for the young life they're sacrificing. In the latter role PATRICK FITZGERALD GIVES VENT TO A COLD-HEARTED MACHIAVELLIAN NATURE that has no time for love or other "high notions."   --Irish Voice

The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd St.) will open its twentieth season with the New York premiere of John B. Keane's SIVE, directed by Ciarán O'Reilly. Previews begin Thursday, September 20, 2007 and the official opening will be on Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 7 PM.

A rich and riveting drama, John B. Keane's SIVE tells the tale of a beautiful young schoolgirl forced into an arranged marriage with a rich and lecherous old man. This hard hitting depiction of a sexually charged world was a scandalous affair when it was first seen in 1959. Against the backdrop of 1950's rural Ireland, the play is colorfully populated with traveling tinkers, bitter housewives and scheming matchmakers. From the same vivid and creative mind that penned THE FIELD and THE MATCHMAKER, SIVE was Keane's first play and it introduced the country to a powerful theatrical voice that influenced a generation of Ireland's modern playwrights.

John B. Keane (Author) is best known in the United States for the movie of his play THE FIELD, which was adapted and directed for the screen by Jim Sheridan. His first play SIVE won the All-Ireland Drama Festival in 1959 and its enormous impact immediately made Keane's reputation. Subsequent plays include BIG MAGGIE, SHARON'S GRAVE, MANY YOUNG MEN OF TWENTY, THE MAN FROM CLARE, HUT 42, THE YEAR OF THE HIKER, MOLL, THE CRAZY WALL, and THE BUDS OF BALLYBUNION. Keane's imagination and humor are unique and surreal, his wit and talent are also evidenced in his many journalistic compositions, some of which have been collected in volumes of short chatty essays. In his mid-fifties Keane wrote a series of best-selling works including The Contractors, The Bodhran Makers and Durango. Keane was a member of Aosdana and the recipient of numerous awards and honors including honorary doctorates from Dublin University and Marymount Manhattan College New York. Mr. Keane died on May 30, 2002.

Ciaran O'Reilly (Director) most recently directed DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, THE HAIRY APE, THE FIELD, PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME! and the Irish Rep original THE BELLS OF CHRISTMAS. He has also directed THE NIGHTINGALE AND NOT THE LARK and THE INVISIBLE MAN by Jennifer Johnston. He was recently seen in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of TOUCH OF A POET with Gabriel Byrne,. Previous to that, he appeared at The Westport Country Playhouse in SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME by Frank McGuiness. He has appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and made his Broadway debut in THE CORN IS GREEN. His many Off-Broadway roles include: two productions of THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN; Brendan Behan's THE HOSTAGE; Hugh Leonard's DA, SUMMER, and THE AU PAIR MAN; Brian Friel's PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME!; J. M. Synge's THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD; Harold Prince's GRANDCHILD OF KINGS; Geraldine Aron's SAME OLD MOON; Tom Murphy's A WHISTLE IN THE DARK; Dion Boucicault's THE SHAUGHRAUN; John Murphy's THE COUNTRY BOY; and Frank McCourt's THE IRISH . . . AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY. He appeared in "The Devil's Own" (starring Harrison Ford), "Law & Order" (NBC), "The Irish . . . and How They Got That Way" (public television), and "Third Watch" (NBC). With Charlotte Moore, he founded The Irish Rep and has appeared in many of their productions and produced all of them. He has thrice been honored by Irish America Magazine with the Irish America Top 100 Irish Award.

The cast includes James Barry, Donie Carroll, Terry Donnelly, Patrick Fitzgerald, Christopher Joseph Jones, Aidan Redmond, Wrenn Schmidt, Mark Thornton and Fiana Toibin.

Set design is by Charles Corcoran, costumes design is by Martha Hally, lighting design is by Jason Lyons, wig and hair design by Robert-Charles Vallance, dialects Stephen Gabis, casting by Laura Maxwell-Scott, April Ann Kline Stage Manager, Janice M. Brandine Assistant Stage Manager. Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director, Ciarán O'Reilly, Producing Director, Patrick A. Kelsey, Managing Director.

Performances of SIVE are Tuesday - Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees are Saturday, and Sunday at 3 PM. Tickets are $60 and $55 and can be purchased by calling The Irish Repertory Theatre Box Office at (212) 727-2737. For more information, call (212) 727-2737 or visit www.irishrep.org.

Group discounts begin with purchases of twenty or more tickets. For group ticket purchases contact Jen Nelson at (212) 255-0270 ext. 22.

PREVIEWS BEGIN: SEPTEMBER 20
OFFICIAL OPENING: SEPTEMBER 27
CLOSES: NOVEMBER 25

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Performance Schedule

Performances are Tuesday - Saturday at 8 PM with matinees on Saturday, and Sunday at 3 PM.

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Running Time

Running time is estimated to be two hours fifteen minutes with one intermission.

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How to Buy Tickets

By Telephone

Call our Box Office at 212-727-2737.

Please be sure to know the date of performance you would like to attend and have your credit card ready.  Note:  A $5 service charge is accessed to all phone orders. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Card.

In Person

Come to the Box Office located at 132 West 22nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

Box Office Hours:

While in production:

Monday - 10am-6pm
Tuesday - Friday 10am-8pm
Saturday - 11am - 8pm
Sunday - 11am - 6pm

While not in production:

Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday & Sunday - 11am - 6pm

Please note these hours are subject to change without advance notice.

Prices subject to change and are based on availability.

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Ticket Prices

Tickets are $60 (main section) and $55 (side section).

No Refunds/No Exchanges.

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Group Sales

We offer a 10% discounts for groups of 20 and over.

Especially for students, we offer a 50% discount of groups of 20 and over with valid student ID.

For group ticket purchases contact Jen Nelson at (212) 255-0270 ext. 22.

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Accessibility

Irish Repertory Theatre's Main Stage is wheelchair accessible. Please mention at the time of your ticket purchase that you are interested in this service.

Assistive listening devices are available for every performance in all Main Stage productions. Visit our concessions area for the devices. ID is required.

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Seating Charts

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