Flights
28 Jan 2020
Flights
Ebook
£7.99£6.39
On the outskirts of Ennis, on a dark and stormy night, three men gather for the anniversary of a childhood friend, killed in a road accident when they were seventeen. Expecting a crowd and tearing into the cans, the three slowly realise they're the only ones coming. As they drink to their uncertain futures – and their receding youth – they're forced to face up to the ghost that has held them together.
John O'Donovan's play Flights is a haunting and funny drama about bereavement, brotherhood and breaking away from your past. It premiered in 2020 at glór in Ennis before transferring to Dublin and London, directed by Thomas Martin.
Flights is also available in the volume Flights and Sink: Two Plays.
Blog Post: 'There's this patronising, anachronistic idea about men, that they don’t know what they’re feeling – that if they just expressed themselves they wouldn’t be so fucked up.' John O'Donovan on his play Flights, and misconceptions about the crisis in masculinity. Read more on our blog>>
Q&A Podcast: listen to a Q&A with John O'Donovan about Flights, recorded in June 2021 as part of the NHB Playgroup series...
'Bleak, tender and shot through with stinging black humour... skilfully written'
The Stage'Poignant, moving and reflective. O'Donovan's writing gives these characters such depth and authenticity that their loss sears through the hearts of the audience'
A Younger Theatre'Told with wonderfully soft humour... a beautiful and moving piece of theatre'
Everything Theatre'Pointed, unsentimental and surprisingly tender... cracking male banter [that] shifts into another mode, self-aware and raw... In O'Donovan's dialogue, the seeping sadness is underscored by anger at the lack of opportunity for these men'
Guardian'Intricate and intense... this mellow and magnificent new play is sometimes hilarious, often haunting and occasionally heartbreaking... it will stay with, challenge and disquiet you long after you leave the theatre'
The Reviews Hub28 Jan 2020
