Production Announcement - The Gap Year
The Lyric Theatre is delighted to announce, The Gap Year from Clare McMahon will be made in association with award winning Belfast-based theatre company Commedia of Errors.
The Gap Year will be the fourth production for Commedia of Errors at the Lyric - running on the Main Stage from 3rd to 25th September. It follows on from their previous sold-out hits Shakespeare’s Women (2017), That Scottish Play! (2018) and I Am Maura (2019).
Founder and Artistic Director of the company, Benjamin Gould, will be directing the production. Benjamin has also worked as a Director and Assistant Director at the Lyric on our New Playwrights Programme our co-production with NI Opera, Sweeney Todd (2019).
Benjamin said:
“We are over the moon to further develop our relationship with the Lyric Theatre. Since we first brought ‘Shakespeare’s Women’ to the Naughton Studio back in 2017 they have encouraged and supported Clare and I’s artistic practice and our company. We look forward to producing our first Main-Stage show ‘The Gap Year’ with the Lyric, thanks to funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.”
Writer of The Gap Year and co-creative of Commedia of Errors Clare McMahon is a playwright and actor based in Belfast. A graduate of the Lir Academy’s MFA Playwriting, she is currently under commission with Kabosh Theatre and is one of the Abbey Theatre’s Centenary development awardees. The Gap Year was developed through Fishamble’s Play for Ireland 2019, the Lyric Theatre’s New Playwrights Programme 2019, had a rehearsed reading at New York’s 1st Irish Origin Festival and was produced for the Lyric’s ‘Listen at the Lyric’ audio series in 2020. The Gap Year will be Clare’s third play to be performed at the Lyric following her plays Shakespeare’s Women and I Am Maura.
Rebecca Mairs, Literary Manager at the Lyric, worked with Clare on The Gap Year as part of the Lyric’s New Playwrights Programme:
“Clare was one of six writers attached to the Lyric for a year and, having known her as a wonderful actor, I was delighted to work with her in developing her writing. We felt there was mileage (pun intended) in the play, and that it was a very special, original piece that would really resonate with audiences. At the end of the programme, we were thrilled with the rapturous reception the play was given at its showcase. This is a beautiful, thoughtful, heart-warming story of female friendship and resilience, and we are delighted to work alongside Commedia of Errors to bring it to full production on our Main Stage in September.”
The Gap Year introduces audiences to newly widowed Kate, childminder-in-chief Roisin and their best friend Oonagh, who have decided enough is enough. Life is too short, they’re going to follow in their children’s footsteps and take a Gap Year. Thailand? Europe? Down Under? No, they’re visiting every county in Ireland, sure there's a few they’ve never even heard of!
It's time for castles, coffee and craic as three women in their 60s go on the adventure of a lifetime.
