VICTORIAN Liverpool is the setting for the latest play by Irish-born, Liverpool-based playwright Bill Morrison.
O’Brien’s Dream is returning to the Unity Theatre, Liverpool, this week following a previous sell-out in the same venue.
It tells the tale of naive Irishman Sean O’Brien, who in 1845 sets sail for a new life in America, only to find himself in Liverpool where his real troubles begin.
It is a Liverpool of bustling docks, slums, boxing booths and chancers to which O’Brien falls prey.
The musical drama, with songs by Frankie Connor and Alan Crowley, is the latest in a line of Irish-themed plays by Morrison, who has written for Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and wrote Flying Blind.
Morrison was also for some time artistic director of the Liverpool Playhouse.
The play is being directed by Anne Bates for her company, Keyhole Theatre, which she created 20 years ago.
“I had been doing theatre work in prisons and I chose Keyhole as an amusing name at the time and it has just stayed,” she explains.
Today, Keyhole specialises in giving experience to emerging theatrical talent.
“We offer opportunities for actors in between jobs, non-professional enthusiasts, newly qualified students waiting for work and playwrights waiting for work to be shown,” she explains.
O’Brien’s Dream, with Jez Wing as musical director – Ms Bates met him when they worked together on a production of The Beggar’s Opera – appeals to those with an interest in Liverpool’s Irish history “and those who enjoy a good story,” she says. It opens at the Unity Theatre on Thursday and runs until Saturday.
