Nick Hern Books

Deirdre Kinahan

Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright and a member of Aosdána, Ireland's elected body of outstanding artists.

Her plays include: An Old Song, Half Forgotten (Abbey Theatre, 2023); Outrage (Fishamble, 2022); The Visit (Draiocht, Dublin Theatre Festival 2021); The Saviour (Landmark Productions, 2021); In the Middle of the Fields (Solas Nua DC, 2021); Embargo (Fishamble 2020); Dear Ireland (Abbey Theatre, 2020); The Bloodied Field (Abbey Theatre 2020); Rathmines Road (Fishamble and Abbey Theatre, 2018); Crossings (Pentabus Theatre, 2018); The Unmanageable Sisters, an adaptation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2018); Wild Sky (Dublin, 2016); Spinning (Fishamble, 2014); Halcyon Days (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, and Dublin Theatre Festival, 2012); and Moment (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, 2009; Bush Theatre, London, 2011).

In 2024, she and actor Bryan Murray were jointly awarded the inaugural Pratchett Prize for challenging the stigma of Alzheimer's Disease, for Kinahan's play An Old Song, Half Forgotten.

Showing 1-12 of 18 items.
Salad Day

Salad Day

By Deirdre Kinahan

A short play about an elderly couple who, trapped in a nursing home, plot a daring escape into the sunshine.

Published in volume Irish Shorts
    Bé Carna

    Bé Carna

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A short play in which five women reflect on their lives as prostitutes on the streets of Dublin.

    Bogboy

    Bogboy

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A short play in which two lost souls – a young heroin addict and a reclusive middle-aged farmer – discover a budding friendship in the bogs of Meath.

    Hue & Cry

    Hue & Cry

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A short play in which two Dublin cousins, Damian and Kevin, are reunited for a family funeral in a highly charged encounter full of disillusion, denial and dark laughter.

    An Old Song, Half Forgotten

    An Old Song, Half Forgotten

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A short play about the life and soul of an older actor living in care with Alzheimer's disease.

    Wild Notes

    Wild Notes

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A play exploring the impact of colonialism through a meeting between Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and abolitionist who visited Ireland in the 1840s, and a young Irishwoman hoping to emigrate to the country he's running from.

    Raging: Outrage

    Raging: Outrage

    The Civil War

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A play exploring women's roles in the Irish revolutionary wars, part of Deirdre Kinahan's trilogy of landmark plays commemorating seven years of warfare in Ireland.

    Raging: Wild Sky

    Raging: Wild Sky

    The Rising

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A play exploring the extraordinary energy and complexity of events in Ireland in the lead up to the Easter Rising of 1916.

    Raging: Embargo

    Raging: Embargo

    The War of Independence

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A poetic, bloody and heroic tale of industrial action and civic resistance, part of Deirdre Kinahan's trilogy of landmark plays commemorating seven years of warfare in Ireland.

    Halcyon Days

    Halcyon Days

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    An uplifting, bittersweet drama set in a nursing home, celebrating friendship and the human spirit.

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    Spinning

    Spinning

    By Deirdre Kinahan

    A contemporary tragedy set in small-town Ireland, by one of Ireland's most exciting playwrights.

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    The Unmanageable Sisters

    The Unmanageable Sisters

    By Michel Tremblay Adapted by Deirdre Kinahan

    A funny and furious new version of Michel Tremblay’s fêted Québécoise comedy, Les Belles-Soeurs.