Brian Friel’s "masterpiece" plays Eastbourne on tour

Following the success of Abigail’s Party, London Classic Theatre presents a new tour of Brian Friel’s celebrated play. Michael Cabot, founder and artistic director of London Classic Theatre, directs Paul Carroll (Frank), Gina Costigan (Grace) and Jonathan Ashley (Teddy), with designs by Bek Palmer and lighting design by Matthew Green.

Faith Healer premiered at Longacre Theatre, New York in 1979, before opening in London at Royal Court Theatre in 1981.

Michael said: “I’ve wanted to direct Faith Healer for many years. It’s such a wonderful, complex piece of writing, with beautifully realised characters and Brian Friel’s remarkable use of language. It draws you in, surprises, intrigues and ultimately takes your breath away. I’m working on the show with my long-term collaborator, set and costume designer Bek Palmer, and I’m very excited about her vision for the play.

“We’re taking the play on tour for eleven weeks, to 20 venues around the UK and Ireland, opening in the round at the wonderful New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme. We have assembled a cast of three extraordinary actors, Paul Carroll, Gina Costigan and Jonathan Ashley, with whom I’m delighted to be working. Faith Healer is one of the great plays of the 20th century, arguably Friel’s masterpiece and I can’t wait for us to bring it to life .”

Frank Hardy has a gift. A gift of healing. A frayed banner hangs outside a desolate village hall. The sick, the suffering and the desperate arrive from out of the wind and the rain. They come in search of restoration, a cure.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, Hardy and his wife, Grace, travel to remote corners of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Accompanied by manager Teddy, they move from village to village, bringing an unpredictable mix of theatricality and the spiritual.

“Using four enthralling monologues to interweave the stories of these three intriguing characters, Friel takes us on an extraordinary journey of shifting perspectives and uncertain memories,” Michael said.

Faith Healer by Brian Friel is at the Connaught Theatre for one night only on Friday, November 17 from 7.30pm.

Paul Carroll plays Frank. His theatre credits include Strike! (Southwark Playhouse), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Rapture Theatre, Traverse Theatre, tour), Twelfth Night (East London Shakespeare Festival), Victorian Ladies in Bed (Calder Theatre), A Skull in Connemara (Nottingham Playhouse), The Non-Stop Connolly Show, Continuity (Finborough Theatre), Permanence, That Dar Place (Old Red Lion), An Incomplete History of Faces (Tristan Bates Theatre), and Way Back (Pleasance Theatre).

His solo sketch show 40 Shades of Strawberry Blond played at Soho Theatre, Leicester Square Theatre and Brighton Festival. Film credits include Chosen and Pretty Music for Very Ugly People. Gina Costigan plays Grace. Her theatre credits include On McQuillan's Hill (Finborough Theatre), The Valley of the Squinting Windows (Mullingar Arts Centre), An Triail le Mairéad Ní Ghráda (Irish tour) and The Risen People (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin). US theatre credits include Hangmen (Golden Theater), The Ferryman (Bernard B. Jacobs Theater), Party Face (New York City Center), Suitcase Under the Bed (Mint Theater Company) and Crackskull Row (Irish Repertory Theater).