Flights and Sink: Two Plays

Two plays about contemporary life in Ireland, from award-winning writer John O'Donovan.

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.

Flights is a haunting and funny play 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.

Sink is a play of two voices for one actor, about memory, catastrophe and sacrifice. Bríd's coming home to convalesce after drying out in rehab. Ciara's headed west too, investigating a potential archaeological site on a parched area of bogland. But as the countryside swelters in a heatwave, the pair find peace elusive. How will Bríd cope in her old haunts? How will Ciara confront a past she thought forgotten? And will they unearth the hidden truth that binds them together?

Sink premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2019, directed by Thomas Martin.

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...