Keep Coming Back

Dara Clear, Rynagh O'Grady and Feidlin Cannon

Keep Coming Back, written and directed by Rynagh O'Grady, opened in 2003, and toured Ireland, France, England, Scotland, Canada and the United States to critical and popular acclaim. The cast were Feidlin Cannon, Dara Clear and Rynagh O'Grady. It was nominated for a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, receiving a four-star review.

Keep Coming Back is a story of contemporary Ireland, our history, our culture and a record of our own legacy. The production depicts the lives of three characters - Les, Nora and Colm - striving to come to terms with the addictions that have plagued their lives, leading to the emergence of stories that are both candid and raw, humorous and enlightening, as the trio attempt to understand what they are and what they aspire to be. The production is a candid portrayal of aspects of life in Ireland today, which are relevant on all levels of family and community life as well as posing serious questions for the State. The piece has been written using first-hand experience of people just like Les, Nora and Colm, people who live beside us, whose lives and experiences most of us will never know.

In November and December of 2004 Keep Coming Back went on another very successful tour of the Baltic, including Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Finland and Germany.

Excellent reviews and full houses proved that it is a story that travels.

Reviews of Keep Coming Back:

ST. PETERSBURG

"Keep Coming Back works like a piece of journalistic reporting,detached yet moving with its realistic and sharp narrative."

St. Petersburg Times

TALLINN

"Although Keep Coming Back is a story of contemporary Ireland it succeeds internationally."

Six Degrees

DUBLIN

"Strong writing and subtle direction".

The Sunday Tribune.

"Played with great depth and sureness"

Sunday Independent.

MONTREAL

"A play of substance, integrity and hope."

The Hour

PARIS

"Brave, honest and powerful".

Pariscope

CORK

"The stories are so awful and moving that you feel like walking on stage to rescue characters from their lives".

The Echo

"There is an integrity, an anger and raw pain in the play"

The Examiner

NEW YORK

"One of the most genuinely compelling items to come out of the Irish theatre in recent years."

Irish Echo

BELFAST

"She has presented us with a gem of Irish theatre - flawless"

Issues

EDINBURGH

Nominated for a Fringe First Award.

"Keep Coming Back carries a veracity and conviction in performance of real power, suffused with tenderness for these compromised human beings, yet never descending into mawkish sentiment for their struggle."

The Scotsman

"Classy acting makes these testimonies harrowingly real, sometimes even funny".

Three Weekly

TORONTO

"It's a great performance filled with aggression, tragedy and moments of humour."

The Eye

LONDON

"A hard-hitting yet humorous, gritty Irish play"

The Guardian