GARRY Hynes, a native of Ballaghdereen in Roscommon, was the first woman to receive a Tony award (1998) on Broadway for Best Direction of a play. Her coup then was ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’, Martin McDonagh’s take on a life blighted by a devouring mother . It was Hynes who moulded its foul and funny truth for stage.
Hynes’ current production is a double whammy, plays by Tom Murphy, ‘Conversations on a Homecoming’ and ‘A Whistle in the Dark’. They are on the road as DruidMurphy, winner of Best Production in 2012′s Irish Times Theatre Awards. A third, the mighty ‘Famine’, is too unwieldy for life on the road and new venues.
Still with Druid Theatre Company after contracts partnering with Royal Court, London, with The Gate and with New York companies, Garry Hynes has been loyal to projects, writers and her actors over decades for a mostly Irish catalogue.
Back in the 1990s, Broadway would have booked the McDonagh play only after its Royal Court hit and not specifically her production with its actors “but we held out”. On Broadway, ‘The Beauty Queen’ clobbered the critics. The Irish legged it home with a suitcase of Tony Awards
Tom Murphy in the 1980s was a mainstay of her own Druid Theatre Company in Galway; DruidSynge platformed all five of JM’s plays; her original home team’s Marie Mullen and Maelíosa Stafford are cast in DruidMurphy shows along screen names Gavin Drea (‘Love/ Hate’), Garrett Lombard (‘Pure Mule’; ‘Alexander’), Rory Nolan and Marty Rea.
So this pint-sized genius who made it great in the man’s world of directing is on a roll and often on a plane to other countries that are storming for her product. She has the Freedom of Galway city and other accolades to her name including raves by The New York Times (‘epic theatre making’); the FT and Daily Telegraph gagged too.
Arts page just about caught her ear before her flight to Amerikay with an eye to further stage work over there.
“DruidMurphy was three to five years in planning, two years in production,” Hynes makes clear. “We produced three shows, including ‘Famine’ which is just too big to tour with so ‘Conversations on a Homecoming’ and ‘A Whistle in the Dark’ are on.”
The actors are holding up on this lengthy commitment as “every night is different, there’s a different audience for the characters. You cannot understand the energy and the feeling that the cast get from the plays and each other as actors. Tom Murphy is a great writer, one with a great body of work”.
And yes, plumbing same works further in the future “is not ruled out “.
Next week at Lime Tree Theatre, Tuesday 18 to Saturday 22, and booking enquiries to 061-774774.
