Get your tickets HEREA chance to see the award winning production of The Scourge by Michelle Dooley Mahon and directed by Ben Barnes following the last production as part of Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival 2020 Off Broadway Irish Repertory Theatre in New York.We are delighted to partner with 2021 Origin 1st Irish Virtual Theatre Festival on presenting this video of the production filmed by Ted Moran. Funds raised through purchase of tickets supports Wexford Arts Centre, Michelle Dooley Mahon and Origin 1st Irish Festival and a global arts sector that has been impacted severely due to COVID 19 restrictions in 2020. The Scourge (Michelle Dooley Mahon) relives visits to her mother Siobhan in a nursing home after she has been struck down by Alzheimer’s disease or what the scourge calls "death by a thousand cuts". Through her humorous as well as moving memories we are introduced to personalities, history, and a nostalgic archive of an ordinary Irish small-town family forced to become extraordinary in their attempt to cope. The production shines a light on an illness that is rarely discussed in detail. It takes us through the stages as the patient declines and describes the family's implosion, the morphing of the scourge from wide eyed child into enfant terrible to obese depressed recluse and her re-emergence as a creator of her one woman show-Shellshock. The production received rave reviews in New York and was nominated for three festival awards for Best actress, playwright (Michelle Dooley Mahon) and Best design. Michelle won Jury's special prize for her work as a writer bringing underexposed issues vital to women in contemporary Ireland to an international audience. Reviews from New York: The Scourge, … written and performed by Michelle Dooley Mahon and making its U.S. premiere at The Irish Repertory Theatre, not making time to see it would be a serious mistake. A deeply moving testament to the power of emotional resilience, The Scourge is a captivating tribute to the human spirit, and Mahon is an international treasure." (Talkin Broadway) Each line of the play packs a powerful emotional and literary punch, and they collectively weave a tapestry depicting a woman of unstinting bravery in the face of her worst fears. The Scourge is also a raw but moving tribute to Ms. Mahon’s mother and her less than ideal life. It’s not always a pretty picture, but it’s a worthwhile ride and an authentic preview of what’s likely in store for most of us. (Interludes Viewpoints on The Scourge). "The Scourge is a rich stew of many parts and each morsel is a distinct flavor bursting with the kind of self-truth and self-reflection that is universal to life. Michelle’s telling of her tale makes a banquet of story and a buffet of observation so that you’ll leave the theater satiated and carrying a huge bag of leftovers that will feed you in some form the rest of your life." "The brutally honest self-observation, the wit, lilt, and poetry of her language is a draw that brings the audience into the over-stuffed wardrobe of Michelle and her experiences and lets the love that gets buried under the mess of life get exposed." (The Front Row Center) " Michelle Dooley Mahon is delightful, sad, funny, heroic and prophetic in a performance that moves and inspires us to be much more aware of the positives in grief." (New York Irish Arts) “The Scourge” is no less than a paean to her beloved mother, and the piece is rich with feeling, with a text that is often lyrical and even poetic. The striking looking Michelle Dooley Mahon strongly holds stage for the presentation (The Epoch Times) “beautifully written and deeply personal… The 85-minute piece is filled with rich imagery and luscious turns of Irish phrase” (Theatremania) The Scourge was first produced on 29th March 2018 at Wexford Arts Centre. Revived 20th October 2018 for Wexford Opera Festival at Wexford Arts Centre. National tour as part of First Fortnight 2019 European Mental Health Art & Culture Festival from 3rd January 2019. Official selection for Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival in New york 2019. First performance at Irish Repertory Theatre, W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre Wednesday 22nd January, 2020 and opening night 23rd January 2020. Production run until Sunday 2nd February 2020.Michelle Dooley Mahon MIchelle Dooley Mahon is a writer/performer who lives in her hometown of Wexford. She is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Scourged and was awarded the Dylan Thomas Literary residency in Sweden in 2014. She headlined at the Spiegletent during Wexford Opera Festival in the same year. She has contributed to the Irish Times and delivered Ted Talks on dementia for the Alzheimer's Society Ireland. She is writing the sequel Diarium and will premiere her new show Divilskin in Ireland later this year. She is currently editing a five year long documentary with cinematographer Ted Moran called Shellshock which closes with this New York run of The Scourge. The Scourge was nominated for 1st irish Festival Best Actor/Writer/Set Design and Michelle won Jury's special prize for her work as a writer bringing underexposed issues vital to women in contemporary Ireland to an international audience. She is the writer and presenter of the mdm podcast hosted on Acast. Michelle is currently writing a new one-woman show Divilskin and the sequel to Scourged – Asylum. She and filmmaker, Ted Moran, are currently editing SeeShell: six years of documentary footage capturing her live performances and a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the day-to-day life of a Scourge. Follow her blog at www.shellakeypookey.blogspot.com, www.shellshock.ie and the MDM podcast on Acast.
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