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Award winning The Parting Glass, a play about family, football, friendship and returning to Ireland is one of the best one man Irish plays I’ve ever seen.

I have tickets to be won for Saturday night’s show at the Dalkey Book Festival.

Here’s a little more about the play:

Where were you on November 18, 2009, when our World Cup dreams were dashed?

Eoin was at the heart of the drama in Stade de France.

THE PARTING GLASS is set on the infamous night when Thierry Henry caused Ireland’s exit from this year’s World Cup.

After emigrating to Germany to find work during the 80s, Eoin made a new life for himself with the help of his wife Frieda and son Dieter. Now he returns to an Ireland that has boomed and bust.

Where Dorset Street has become so posh that all the women have turned blonde and the girls buying John Player Blue at Hardwick Street flats have a different pair of pyjamas to wear to the shops every day.

Henry’s sleight of hand is used by Bolger as a metaphor for the speedy deception experienced by people in Ireland in these post boom years. After emigrating to Germany to find work during the 80’s, Eoin made a new life for himself with the help of his wife Frieda and son Dieter.

He returned to Ireland at the height of the boom, and just in time for the bust. “Where Dorset Street has become so posh that all the women have turned blonde … and the girls buying John Player Blue at Hardwick Street flats have a different pair of pyjamas to wear to the shops every day”.

‘The Parting Glass‘ is a one-man show charting Eoin’s journey through love, friendship, family and Ireland’s turbulent economic climate.

Having toured Ireland, the U.S and France, The Parting Glass is making a special appearance at the Dalkey Book Festival – just in time for the Euro’s and Father’s day!

* * * * The Irish Times, Sunday Business Post, The Guardian, Irish Examiner

“A rare achievement” The Irish Times

“A remarkable piece of storytelling” Sunday Business Post

I really liked the play when I saw it for the first time in May of this year. Dermot Bolger‘s writing is incisive, honest and brutal, the analogies drawn interesting and topical and there are some very very funny lines in there. Ray Yeates plays the role convincingly, with considerable ease, humour and a comfort in the role often absent from such plays.

It’s a very Irish play and a play very much of its time. It made me laugh, it made me angry and it made me think about family, friendship and what being Irish means, no matter where you are in the world.

When I left the venue I immediately texted friends to tell them “You *have* to see this play”. They wouldn’t go to nearly as much theatre as me, but it’s ideal for anyone into their football, into comedy and with thoughts about Ireland as it is now.

The play is 90 minutes long and is on Saturday June 16 from 7 to 8.30pm in The Vico, Castle Street. Tickets are €10 each. Book them online here.

To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets, just leave a comment below and I’ll pick the winners and contact them tomorrow. 

Thanks to Niamh in Axis Ballymun for the competition offer.