The play's the star

Chicago's Steppenwolf theatre company is famous the world over

Chicago's Steppenwolf theatre company is famous the world over. Names such as John Mahoney (inset right), of Frasier fame, and John Malkovich have long been ensemble members of its celebrated permanent troupe.

Where other US theatres subscribe to the star system, Steppenwolf's philosophy is to take risks. It's essentially an actors' theatre, where the ensemble is placed before the individual performer. The company has had a relationship with the Galway Arts Festival for several years. "It started in 2000 when we brought them over with Sideman," says festival director, Rose Parkinson (below left). "I'd been a fan of the company for years and wanted to bring them here." Last year Steppenwolf presented Traffic, and this year the production is What Ever, Heather Woodbury's phenomenal one-woman odyssey. John Mahoney - either in or out of a Steppenwolf production - cannot seem to keep himself away from the festival. In the past he played in a production of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, and this year he features in a Galway Arts Festival/National Theatre co-production of The Drawer Boy, by Toronto-based writer Michael Healey. Michael Gennaro, Steppenwolf's executive producer, says "the relationship between the festival and us is very good. We find the audiences very open, and because we do text-based theatre it suits the Irish scene". Gennaro adds that he hopes the relationship can continue, "but for that to happen you do need to be funded, both by corporate sponsors and by the Arts Council". While essentially not a touring company, it seems with the frequency of visits Steppenwolf is becoming almost as much an Irish company as an American one - in October it is staging Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross at the Dublin Theatre Festival. Again Irish audiences will be spoiled; this is world-class theatre, rarely seen outside the US. What Ever you do, don't miss it.