dublin Archives - John Morton

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June 26, 2019 • devious theatre, Theatre

The Roaring Banshees

So very excited to be bringing this show to the stage this August.

The Roaring Banshees by Peter McGann and myself is the second part of our Ripping Yarn Trilogy following on from The Hellfire Squad which we premiered in 2016. We’re again working with our favourite collaborator, the brilliant Sarah Baxter who will also be directing this show.

It’s one thing to come up with a fairly out there idea but another thing entirely to see it coming to life in such vivid fashion. Anyway, we thought Cumann na mBan versus Al Capone’s Outfit would be a cracking idea for a new play.

Cumann na mBan’s baddest, meanest and most ruthless beures, pulled from their individual clubs by Countess Markievicz and assembled into a unit of Ireland’s most feared assassins. Played by the amazing cast of Nessa Matthews, Ali Fox, Clodagh Mooney Duggan, Aoife Spratt, Amy Dunne, Laura Brady and Aine Ni Laoghaire.

Chicago, 1923.

After a failed assassination attempt on Eamon de Valera, a rogue Cumann na mBán unit flee across the Atlantic to escape the law. With Prohibition in full swing, they earn their keep by making bootleg poitín and selling it on to the Chicago mob.

But it’s not long before a gang war breaks out with them caught in the middle, and the lethal skills they honed back home hunting Black and Tans are taken to the bullet-strewn streets of the Windy City.

Here’s the trailer for the show, made by the brilliant Sean Clancy.

I’m so excited to see this one hit the stage and we hope audiences get a kick out of it. No Let Up.

1-3 August, Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny: https://bit.ly/2NMKObA

12-31 August, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin: https://bit.ly/2GjFFl7

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May 27, 2017 • Theatre

The Definitive View with Sneachta Ní Mhurchú

I had a very fun time last summer doing some directing on The Definitive View with Sneachta Ní Mhurchú by The Brownbread Mixtape. It’s got a very appealing synopsis which reads:

Ireland. The near future. You sit down with a cup of tay, and tune in to RTÉ Radio 1 to catch The Definitive View with Sneachta Ní Mhurchú: your favourite arty interview and playback show, featuring the quirkiest, murkiest Irish radio from the past week, hosted by Ireland’s most popular self-important presenter. A brand new comedy radio play with a live musical soundtrack, in the tradition of The Goons and Scrap Saturday.

It went on to be nominated for two Dublin Fringe Festival awards: Best Ensemble and The Bewley’s Little Gem award. It returns now for a week long run in Project Arts Centre with the powerhouse vocal talents of Eva Bartley, Gus McDonagh and Kalle Ryan behind it. It’s a “Pitch-perfect parody of RTE radio” as the Irish Independent called it.

It plays June 20th to 24th at 7.45pm nightly with tickets €16-€18. You can book them here.

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June 25, 2016 • devious theatre, Theatre

The Hellfire Squad

Say your prayers, The Hellfire Squad have risen.

Here’s the first look at the titular band of assassins assembled by Michael Collins in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising. They will be brought to the stage in Devious Theatre’s newest production next month.

A work blessing, gun running, porter swilling, scheme hatching, agent killing, hooley throwing, ballad singing, yarn spinning, card playing, hurl swinging, bomb rigging, shit kicking, freedom fighting, bullet spewing, hell blazing shower of miscreants as you’ll ever meet. God bless the work.

‪I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to put anything on the stage and I don’t think I ever will be again. Peter McGann and myself have been working on it for the past number of years and Sarah Baxter is currently doing a damn fine job of directing us into shape. The great costumes here are designed by Helen McGinty with some damn fine photography and design from Ken McGuire.

The show plays Project Arts Centre, Dublin from July 18-23 and Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from July 28-30. For more visit devioustheatre.com

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March 14, 2016 • devious theatre, Theatre

God Bless The Work…

After 7 years of mild to intensive labour, Peter McGann and myself have finally given birth to The Hellfire Squad. It’ll be the first play focusing solely on Michael Collins infamous hit squad, a Dirty Dozen style adventure about the assembly, training and deployment of a bunch of mismatched assassins in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising. I’m very excited to debut this new play as part of Devious Theatre’s 10th birthday programme, handily entitled Devious 10. The production will be directed by the brilliant Sarah Baxter, who I mostly recently worked with on Taboo, and produced by the bold Ken McGuire, who I have worked on a stupid amount of theatre with over the past 10 years. It will take its debut bow in Project Arts Centre, Dublin from 18-23 July and Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from 28-30 July as part of this years Alternative Kilkenny Arts programme. God bless the work.

We are about to launch a Fund It campaign for the play so keep an eye out for that and maybe help support the cause.

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December 13, 2014 • Uncategorized

War Of Attrition

Currently in the midst of a new run of my play War Of Attrition. We just finished a three night stay in Kilkenny and its up to Dublin from this Monday for a six night run in Project Arts Centre.

The Irish Times previews the piece yesterday and wrote these nice words:

“Devious Theatre returns with its Fringe hit from last year, a comic and darkly subversive take on chuggers, bilious internet bloggers and psychopathy. An unlikely camaraderie develops between a charity worker, an online scourge and a homeless guy, and it disintegrates just as quickly, with hilarious performances from John Doran, Roseanna Purcell and its writer John Morton (below). All are given supple direction by Niamh Moroney.”

That sums it up in a nutshell really. So if you’re looking for some theatre as you approach Christmas week, get thee to Project Arts Centre for some troll hunting, life hacking, online feuding, cyber spills and thrills.

We’re playing at 8.15pm nightly in Project Cube from Monday 15th to Saturday 20th and you can get your tickets for the show right here. Props to Paddy Dunne for these new poster designs too, slick as ya like.

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October 5, 2014 • devious theatre, Theatre

No Love, Just War

Very excited that my play War Of Attrition is returning this December for a run in Project Arts Centre in Dublin and the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny.

The play had a successful debut run last year at Dublin Fringe Festival before making its way to Galway Theatre Festival. It received 4 star reviews from Irish Theatre Magazine and The Irish Times as well as garnering a Fringe Awards nomination for Best Female Performer for Roseanna Purcell’s role as Daisy. John Doran and myself are rejoining her in the cast and director Niamh Moroney will be back to crack the whip on us.

As the synopsis for the show goes:

Daisy is an unwitting internet celebrity, the ‘Psycho Chugger’ whose video currently has 178, 234 views on Youtube – it is ruining her life.

Alan, a blogger by the name of Generalissimo Malaise who claims to target the ‘everyday arsehole’, is the one who made it.

And Chris, well he just got caught in the crossfire.

There will be casualties when a nasty game of one-upmanship descends into a relentless war. War Of Attrition is a destructively comic thriller that takes you from parties on the streets of Dublin to the darkest parts of the internet where revolution is brewing.

The show plays The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from December 9th-11th and Project Arts Centre, Dublin from December 15th-20th. Tickets for both shows can now be booked online.

I was delighted with the response to the show last year so I’m absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to present the show again. For all info on the show, keep an eye on devioustheatre.com

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August 10, 2014 • Theatre, White Label

White Label

After many months of plotting and planning, I’m delighted to finally launch White Label.

It’s the name of a brand new theatre outfit in Dublin that I’m working with. The idea (as per the name) is to create a new model for theatre making in Ireland, in this case along the lines of an independent record label. So a theatre label, basically. The proper official mission statement from the group is: “We are nine independent, professional, theatre makers working together to redesign our creative landscape, to make it better for us and for you.”

The nine of us, apart from myself, are Joanna Crawley, James Hickson, Rosemary McKenna, Louise Melinn, Aisling Murray, Máirín O’Grady, Ronan Phelan and Hugh Travers. We just launched last Tuesday with The Eurydice Project. It was a nice low key launch and allowed us to finally stop feeling like a weird secret sect hanging around town, slowly drinking long pots of tea and whispering. It’s done, it’s out there and now we just need to make work. And luckily enough, we’ve got some very exciting projects lined up. In fact, you’ll be able to see (A)pollonia at this years Dublin Theatre Festival. I’m really excited about what we’re brewing, but we’re taking some good old school baby steps as we progress. For all the info on White Label and what we’re doing, please check out our website and follow the social media bits and bobs.

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August 30, 2013 • devious theatre

War Of Attrition

I’ve been working overtime on the first production of my new play War Of Attrition. It opens next week at the Dublin Fringe Festival.

I’m very excited about it, although at this stage I’ve been writing it for so long, I just don’t know what’s what anymore. Like a man with a concussion trying to rehearse a play. Total blitzkrieg on my brain. Niamh Moroney has done an amazing job of turning it into a play and I couldn’t ask for better acting comrades than John Doran and Roseanna Purcell. Anyway, here’s the synopsis of what it’s all about:

Daisy is the unwitting star of a viral video, Psycho Chugger, which currently sits on 178,234 YouTube views. And it’s ruining her life. Alan is the one who made it. A blogger who goes by the name of Generalissimo Malaise, he targets the ‘everyday arsehole’. Chris is a homeless man who just got caught in the crossfire of their feud. Devious Theatre bring their destructive new comedy to the streets of Dublin. There will be casualties.

The aforementioned Psycho Chugger video has been made into a promo for the show and you can watch it right here:

We’ve also made a main promo trailer for the show that shows the interrogation of unreliable narrators, which is a strong aspect of the play. And you can check that one out here.

The show opens next Monday in Players Theatre, Trinity College and runs until September 14th at 8pm nightly. Tickets can be bought from the Festival Box Office in Filmbase on Curve Street or else you can call them on 1850 374 643! Tickets can be purchased online right here.

Tickets can be bought from the Festival Box Office in Filmbase on Curve Street or else you can call them on 1850 374 643! Tickets can be purchased online right here. – See more at: http://devioustheatre.com/life-wartime-2-daisy-psycho-chugger-20130902/#sthash.XwTrd1pd.dpuf

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The Roaring Banshees

The Definitive View with Sneachta Ní Mhurchú

The Hellfire Squad

God Bless The Work…

War Of Attrition

No Love, Just War

White Label

War Of Attrition

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