The awarded playwright David Ireland’s “Ulster American” kicked off at London’s Riverside Studios with an official opening scheduled for December 13. Performances will continue through January 28, 2024.
Ireland’s social satire brings Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson, BAFTA and Emmy winner Andy Serkis, and the “Derry Girls” star Louisa Harland together.
“The Natural Born Killers,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “True Detective” star Harrelson pays a visit to the London stage for the first time in almost 20 years to portray Jay Conway, an Oscar-winning American actor in the play. Andy Serkis, as we know from many films and productions including “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Batman,” plays English director Leigh Carver, and Louisa Harland is the Northern Irish playwright Ruth Davenport.
Ireland’s fearless and sarcastic story follows these three characters working on a new play until they notice they are not on the same page.
“Power dynamics, cultural identity, and the perils of being a woman in the entertainment industry; nothing is off limits in this pitch-black comedy,” the synopsis reads.
Making a debut in 2018 at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, “Ulster American” received the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award and the Scotsman Fringe First Award in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Jeremy Herrin, also the director of the awarded “Best of Enemies,” helms the direction of “Ulster American.”
“I’ve always admired the way David Ireland manages to skewer pretension in its many guises,” Herrin said about the play. “It’s an honor to bring the legend Woody Harrelson to London, to welcome Andy Serkis back to the stage after so much success in the movies, and to enjoy the brilliant Louisa Harland going toe-to-toe with them both.”
In 2022, he directed Amy Adams, who made her West End debut in a production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.”
The creative team of “Ulster American” features Max Jones as set and costume designer, Oliver Fenwick as lighting designer, Emma Laxton as sound designer, and has casting by Jessica Ronane.
For ticket information, visit TodayTix.
