The Laughing Boy

The Laughing Boy was given its first stage production at The New Theatre, Dublin, from 31st August to 11th September, 2021. It returned on 1st March 2022 by public demand for a further 2-week run, and on the 1st September 2022, it travelled to London for performances at the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith.

Dublin 1963 and Brendan Behan’s song The Laughing Boy has become the inspirational anthem of the political Left in Greece. Alexandra, a student and political activist, has travelled here to seek out the writer of the song and invite him to Greece to boost the struggle for Socialism.

Her search comes to an end in a Dublin pub but what she finds there is strange in the extreme. This is not the Brendan Behan she was expecting. In fact she is totally bewildered when two characters claim to be Brendan Behan, each with a different take on the legendary writer.

The play draws on Jack Harte’s engagement with Greece. In 1974 he was there to witness the fall of the Military Junta, and 40 years later he was back in Athens and discovered the huge impact of Brendan Behan’s song – The Laughing Boy. The play is an absorbing tale of theatrical and political history as well as an imagined portrayal of Brendan Behan at the end of his life.

This play was published by Scotus Press and is available to purchase from www.scotuspress.com

Watch a video of the play here

Review by Katy Hayes in the Irish Independent:

"Donogh Deeney as the celebrity Brendan is a pub charmer and has an uncanny resemblance to Behan. Owen O'Gorman's Writer Behan creates a much darker and moodier version of the writer, depicting the bitter reality of his alcoholism. Michelle Lucey captures the unbreakable idealism of the young Greek patriot.

The play shines an interesting light on this international connection between Irish art and Greek politics, underlining once again how far and wide the reach of Irish writers in the world is."

Read the full review here.



The show in London 1st September 2022:

Article in the Irish World

Article in the Irish Post

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