Irish Repertory Theatre has revealed casting for their upcoming revival of Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape.
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly (Ulster American), The Hairy Ape will begin performances September 25, with opening night set for October 4. The production will run through November 15.
In 1922, O’Neill produced The Hairy Ape for the first time at the Provincetown Players, kicking off an expressionist era that continues to reverberate through to today. The play centers on Yank, a dark-souled and brutish ship laborer working as a stoker on an ocean liner. When the beautiful, spoiled daughter of the ship’s owner visits the engine room for a thrill, she is at once repulsed and terrified by Yank and what she sees there. Half in love with the unattainable and half blinded by rage, the bewildered Yank blunders violently through Manhattan, seeking both revenge and a place in a society which continually refuses him.
The Irish Rep production will star Jon Beavers (Paradise) as Yank, Joanna Glushak (1776) as Mildred’s Aunt, Ariyan Kassam (Romeo & Juliet) as Long, John Keating (The Weir) as Paddy, Adam Petherbridge (The Play That Goes Wrong) as Secretary for the IWW, and Elizabeth Teeter (Heathers: The Musical) as Mildred, and Jonathan Crimeni (Broken Snow), Hassiem Muhammad (Blue Bloods), and Harrison Tipping (The Honey Trap) as the ensemble.
The Hairy Ape will feature set design by Charlie Corcoran (Ulster American), costume design by Orla Long (The Loved Ones), lighting design by Michael Gottlieb (Ulster American), sound design by Florian Staab (Ulster American), original music by Ryan Rumery (Ulster American), properties by Nicole Rozanski (Beckett Briefs). Pamela Brusoski (The Honey Trap) is the Production Stage Manager, and Gabriella Walko (Twelfth Night) is the Assistant Stage Manager. Casting is by Geoff Josselson Casting.
For more information, visit IrishRep.org.