{"id":410066,"date":"2026-04-21T13:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/410066\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:34:12","slug":"play-that-launched-cillian-murphy-to-get-30th-anniversary-revival-in-cork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/410066\/","title":{"rendered":"Play that launched Cillian Murphy to get 30th anniversary revival in Cork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cork\u2019s most famous play is about to get a revival to mark its 30th anniversary. Disco Pigs, the 1996 tale from Corcadorca theatre company that spawned the career of Cillian Murphy, has been announced as part of the Everyman\u2019s new season.<\/p>\n

While Murphy and co-star Eileen Walsh won\u2019t be reprising their roles, playwright Enda Walsh is returning to Cork to direct the work that set him on the path to international renown.<\/p>\n

The 59-year-old went on to work with the likes of David Bowie on the play Lazarus, has recently penned the script for a new version of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film, and was tempted back to his old Leeside stomping ground by Des Kennedy, artistic director of the Everyman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to programme Cork-related material, and I knew it was the 30th anniversary of Disco Pigs, so I approached Enda. I was delighted when he said he\u2019d love to direct it himself,\u201d says Kennedy, who\u2019d previously worked with Walsh on the stage musical version of Once.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember seeing the original Disco Pigs as a teenager with Cillian and Eileen at the Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfast. I was a young lad from the Twinbrook estate in West Belfast and I loved the two defiant angry teenagers that the world didn\u2019t give a shit about. It was just intoxicating.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\u00a0Enda\u00a0Enda Walsh, the writer of Disco Pigs, is returning to Cork to direct the play.\u00a0 Picture:\u00a0 Dan Linehan<\/p>\n

\u00a0After debuting at the Triskel in Cork, Disco Pigs went on to win numerous awards, and toured in Ireland and the UK, eventually being adapted into a film.<\/p>\n

Auditions for the city-set play\u2019s roles of Pig and Runt have already been held in Cork, Dublin, and Kilburn, with final casting details for the November run expected to be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\n Disco Pigs\u2019 original director Pat Kiernan isn\u2019t involved in the production this time around, but he does helm one of a series of readings of new plays that are also on the Everyman\u2019s upcoming roster. Also involved in that series is Derry Girls\u2019 creator Lisa McGee, venturing south to direct Something Borrowed, a female-led comedy set during a wedding day.<\/p>\n

\"DesDes Kennedy, artistic director at the Everyman in Cork. Picture: Darragh Kane<\/p>\n

Other highlights of the Everyman\u2019s new season include The House Must Win \u2013 adapted from Blarney musician Mick Flannery\u2019s debut album \u2013 and a site-specific piece directed by Kennedy himself that will be staged at the empty swimming pool of the nearby Metropole Hotel\u2019s former health centre.<\/p>\n

Offerings as part of Cork Midsummer Festival include 0800 CUPID, by Cork-born Emer Dineen, which received widespread praise during its original run at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2024.<\/p>\n

Full details of the Everyman season will be revealed at a launch event on Tuesday evening (April 21), with tickets for the productions also going on sale in the coming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork\u2019s most famous play is about to get a revival to mark its 30th anniversary. Disco Pigs, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5658,2920,79,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-410066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-irish-examiner-instagram","tag-cillian-murphy","tag-cork-news","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}