Squinting Windows returns to Mullingar Arts Centre

The Valley Of The Squinting Windows, based on the book by Brinsley MacNamara, returns to Mullingar Arts Centre in October this year for four performances.

The Michael Scott directed show was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award in 2019, and sold out at the Gaiety Theatre in 2023, and again at Mullingar Centre for all performances.

The show was described by critics as ‘Trading in wild theatricality on such a glorious scale it’s impossible to resist’ and ‘the Michael Scott production and script seeks to modernise a century old story with ingenious production methods that could become de rigueur for further plays’.

Set in 1918, and opening with the infamous ‘burning of the book’ in the village of Delvin, the production uses new digital video and audio technologies, 14 professional actors, and a company of community players.

It brings McNamara’s book into the 21st century while echoing life in small town Ireland.

With music by 18th century Irish composer John Field played live, and an electronic score by Michael Scott, the production provides a great evening of theatre that has audiences on the edges of their seats.

MacNamara in his depiction of a small Irish village, joins Synge and O’Casey who were despised for their depiction of West of Ireland people and the “Dublin working class”.

“The novel while ground breaking in its day needed the new brush strokes that Scott and his energetic empathetic cast brought to the two and half hours of the story…”

Booking: www.mullingarartscentre.ie, 04493 47777