Playing politics

The film Haughey: The Biopic may be only a gleam in a producer's eye, but Yew Tree Theatre hasn't wasted any time. John Breen's new play for the Ballina company will dramatise the political career of the former taoiseach, from the arms trial to the tribunals, and "examine his legacy and his place in the mythology of Irish politics". Breen, who won the ESB/Irish Times award for best director in 1999, had no difficulty generating drama from scrums of rugby players in Alone It Stands; the new material may demand less of the playwright's substantial imaginative powers. The Haughey play, with the working title of Difficult Second Album, will be staged late next year. Other productions from Yew Tree in 2002 will include Max Hafler's Grand, Lennox Robinson's Drama At Inish (a co-production with Hawkswell, Sligo) and Neil Donnelly's The Silver Dollar Boys (a co-production with An Grianβn, Letterkenny). You can get more information by e-mail, from yew@indigo.ie