The Shaughraun

This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows

Play Opened 8 June 2005, Closed 30 July 2005

Albery Theatre St Martin's Lane, London

Heroes... Villains... Lovers... Liars... and Laughter!... The Shaughraun or The Vagabond, Dion Boucicault's glorious romp of a 19th century Irish melodrama, comes into the West End following two sell-out seasons at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

"Villainous fun... Nothing short of brilliant" The Daily Express

Delightfully tongue-in-cheek, this spectacular production will have you rooting for the star-crossed lovers, booing the dastardly villain and applauding the show-stealing talents of Tatters the loveable dog. The Shaughraun is a terrifically over-the-top, rollicking comedy that will carry you away with its fabulous choreography and infectious combination of laughter and energy.

"Astonishing production... A merry riot" The Daily Mail

"Who? Yes, well, a Shaughraun is an Irish rural character, a vagabond, a footloose but loyal trickster. In Dion Boucicault's famous play, Don Wycherley brings him to life not as the sly, twinkling leprechaun he's sometimes played as, but as a cunning, nimble operator, a kind-hearted but ruthless fighter... Boucicault's brilliance lies in his robust humour and in his ability to mock the very genre that made him famous. There's nothing quite like the Irish sending up the Irish, and John McColgan's direction gives the play the full panto/music-hall treatment, with the odd topical joke and a few juicy innuendos. Colin Dunne's choreography is breathtaking." The Sunday Times

"This show is a guilty pleasure" The London Evening Standard

"This is shamelessly cheesy and it knows it - and that's the joke... The ensemble's deliberately hammy performances prove irresistibly droll, with moments of great vaudevillian timing... The most sophisticated joke of the evening is that Boucicault's Irish characters combine charm and cheek in their dealings with the English, and that, in turn, is the very game McColgan's troupe are playing with us. At its most interesting, this is also a witty portrait of a people surviving under occupation... Ultimately though, McColgan isn't a great director. He lets his actors' gags wear thin instead of developing them, and Don Wycherley, playing The Shaughraun, has more driving charisma than comic fine-tuning." The Independent on Sunday

"It hits a level of sublime, exaggerated silliness" The Guardian

"Dion Boucicault's 1876 melodrama never was intended to be a piece of tinkling subtlety. It's a comedy of stereotypes: dastardly villain; wronged handsome hero; spirited, heaving-breasted woman... John McColgan, of Riverdance fame, directs with such unrelenting jollity that the excitements of the plot get sniggered away and its jokes clodhopped into the peat. Occasionally, a terrific line floats out of someone's mouth: the Shaughraun takes a 'thimbleful' of whisky just 'to take the cruelty out of the water'. Francis O'Connor's big, spoof Victorian design - fake cardboard stone walls and busy interiors - keeps turning round, as if to offer hope of change." The Observer

"The director John McColgan clearly understands the word 'melodrama' to mean pantomime for adults, and there is therefore a lot of hissing whenever the Dick Dastardly-style baddie - consummately played by Stephen Brennan - shows his moustachioed face on stage... The Mutley to Brennan's Dastardly, by the way, is the staggeringly gifted David Pearse, and the two of them make up one of the funniest double-acts I've seen on the West End for a very long time. The whole thing goes down as smoothly as a large glass of fine Irish malt." The Sunday Telegraph

"When I invited John McColgan to direct The Shaughraun at the Abbey as part of the abbeyonehundred celebrations in 2004, I was responding to two impulses. Bringing the director of Riverdance, one of the world's most successful shows, and the great entertainer of the late nineteenth century Dion Boucicault together was calculated to deliver a popular, entertaining hit for the Abbey as a counterpoint to the heavy artillery of the Irish and European repertoire that surrounded it. The second impulse had something to do with an acknowledgement that whether the Abbey playwrights of the Irish Revival reacted against the drama of Boucicault or shamelessly borrowed from it, his figure looms large and it is not fanciful to say that he is arguably the father of modern Irish drama. As such his presence in the Abbey centenary programme was appropriate. Following our appearance at the Barbican International Theatre Events earlier in the season with The Plough and the Stars, this is the second appearance of the Abbey in London this year and I hope London audiences enjoy the show as much as we enjoy playing it" Ben Barnes, Artistic Director of The Abbey Theatre, Dublin.