The Brightening Air
Paperback, 104 pages ISBN: 9781839044199Publication Date:
17 Apr 2025
Size: 198mm x 129mm£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
Ebook, 104 pages ISBN: 9781788508605Publication Date:
17 Apr 2025
£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
First Staged:
Old Vic, London, 2025

The Brightening Air

By Conor McPherson

Paperback £10.99£8.79

Ebook £10.99£8.79

On Stage at:
Old Vic, London
From Thu 10 Apr 2025 to Sat 14 Jun 2025
  • Edgerton Foundation New Play Award

The family home is more than a building. It's a destination of pilgrimage, an inherited investment, a repository of memory or magic. But, for brother and sister Stephen and Billie, home is all they've got. Mucking along in their decaying farmhouse, they're doing just fine.

That is, until the arrival of an ex-clergyman uncle with an unscrupulous plan, a sister-in-law seeking a miracle, and a prodigal brother hell-bent on trouble…

An entrancing tale of fate, family and unseen forces in 1980s Ireland, Conor McPherson's play The Brightening Air was the winner of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. It was first performed at The Old Vic, London, in 2025, directed by the playwright.

'You'll remember how much of living is really just forgetting.'

Press Quotes

'The finest play of the year... a rich and subtle play that will surely endure for decades'

The iPaper

'Sharp and tender... nothing rings false in McPherson's delicious dialogue'

The Times

'A good Chekhovian mix of melancholy and humour'

Guardian

'Terrific... a haunting and very funny ensemble piece... richly steeped in Irish folkloric tradition... its haunting imagery will stay with you for a long time'

Telegraph

'Utterly wondrous... beautifully atmospheric, dancing a clever line between comedy and melancholy, realism and magic... McPherson's writing is pin-sharp, a rare combination of the riotous and the elegiac'

WhatsOnStage

'Audacious... hilarious and achingly moving... I bloody loved it'

Evening Standard

'Enthralling... a richly observed study of a family of quirky misfits imploding under the weight of their unattainable desires... McPherson's typically sparkling dialogue, dripping with vibrant Irish idiom and loaded with humour and profundity'

The Stage

'Excellent... the great Irish playwright Conor McPherson returns with a bang... a slow-burn, bittersweet drama... gloriously strange'

Time Out
Paperback,104 pages ISBN: 9781839044199Publication Date:
17 Apr 2025
Size: 198mm x 129mm£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
Ebook,104 pages ISBN: 9781788508605Publication Date:
17 Apr 2025
£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)

Also by Conor McPherson:

The Nest
The Weir
Girl from the North Country
Shining City
The Dance of Death
Conor McPherson Plays: Two
The Veil
The Night Alive
This Lime Tree Bower
Dublin Carol
Conor McPherson Plays: Three
The Birds
The Seafarer
Conor McPherson Plays: One
Come On Over
Uncle Vanya
Port Authority
Cold War
The Good Thief
Rum and Vodka
St Nicholas

Go to author page...

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