THE ABBEY Theatre’s new season will see Alan Rickman as a corrupt banker, two new Paul Mercier plays in a single day and a tour to mark the centenary of the national theatre’s first US visit.
Following a year which has directly engaged with topical issues such as clerical abuse and economic incompetence, there is no overarching theme to the new programme, said its director, Fiach Mac Conghail. But there will be a new version of Henrik Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkmanby Frank McGuinness. Running in October and November, much of the focus will be on its cast. Rickman will make his Irish debut 15 years after playing Éamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins. He will star alongside Fiona Shaw and Lindsay Duncan.
The play, written in the 1890s, revolves around a bank manager previously jailed for fraud. When McGuinness showed the play to the Abbey two years ago, Mac Conghail realised it was “unbelievably prescient. Although it’s a play written over a century ago, in my view it’s very much a play about now.”
Other highlights include a short run for Freefall, a double winner at this year's Irish TimesTheatre Awards, and Raoul, a piece of contemporary circus by Charlie Chaplin's grandson James Thiérrée. Paul Mercier has been commissioned to write two companion pieces, The Passingand The East Pier, which will play back-to-back each Saturday. "They're linked thematically but not structurally," said Mac Conghail, "so you don't have to see one to the see the other. But people can see one in the afternoon and the other that evening."
The Christmas show will be Dion Boucicault's Arrah Na Pogue– a "rollicking good tale" directed by co-founder of Barabbas Mikel Murfi. He will also direct B for Baby, by new playwright Carmel Winters, at the Peacock.
A century since its first tour of the US, the Abbey will take John Gabriel Borkmanto New York for six weeks from January. It will also be touring Mark O'Rowe's Terminusacross several US states. Following cuts, losing almost €3 million over two years, Mac Conghail said the US market is of vital importance. "There's a balance to be found between State and private funding. The future existence of the Abbey Theatre depends on the US, our fundraising and connections there. It's almost back to where we were 100 years ago."