"This book of 12 short plays, first produced at Bewley's Cafe Theatre, could be said to be a celebration of not just one, but two miracles in Dublin cultural life - the always interesting, innovative and well-used small space that is Bewley's Café Theatre and the continued strength of Declan Meade's Stinging Fly Press, which adds this impressive volume to a steadily growing list of excellent publications."

— Dermot Bolger, Sunday Business Post

An anthology featuring twelve short plays originally produced in the popular lunch-time slot at Bewley’s Café Theatre on Dublin’s Grafton Street over the past ten years.

The Twelve Plays:
Too Much of Nothing by Mark O’Halloran & David Wilmot;
Bad Sunday by Mark Wale;
The Head of Red O’Brien by Mark O’Halloran;
The Star Trap by Michael James Ford;
Fred and Jane by Sebastian Barry;
One Too Many Mornings by Mark O’Halloran & David Wilmot;
Election Night by Donal Courtney;
So Long, Sleeping Beauty by Isobel Mahon;
Jimmy Joyced! by Donal O’Kelly;
Buridan’s Ass by S. R. Plant;
Two for a Girl by Mary Kelly and Noni Stapleton;
Is There Balm in Gilead? by Michael Harding;

From Mark O’Halloran’s Foreword:
“Bewley’s Café Theatre is a venue which produces work of true quality, innovation and fun. It has also been and continues to be a venue that specialises in the fostering of new and emerging talent and I think I speak for many writers who started there when I say that without that venue I don’t think I would have written at all or continued to do so.”

From Christopher Fitz-Simon’s Introduction:
“If it has been anything at all over the past ten years, Bewley’s Café Theatre has been an assiduously serious and professional enterprise, as the writing in the twelve plays selected here amply demonstrates. These plays should certainly be seen (and heard) again, and this volume should pave the way for future performances for all of them.”

– About

Bewley’s Café Theatre, located in the former Oriental Room of the Grafton St Café, is Dublin’s foremost stage for lunchtime drama and also hosts evening cabaret, jazz & comedy. Visit their website to see what’s currently on.

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