Frank McGuinness’ original plays include The Visiting Hour (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 2021), The Factory Girls (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1982; Tricycle Theatre, London, 1990 and Arcola Theatre, 2006), Baglady (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985), Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1985; Hampstead Theatre, 1986 and 2009, with awards from London Evening Standard for Most Promising Playwright, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, Harvey’s Best Play Award, the Cheltenham Literary Prize Plays and Players Award, the Ewart-Briggs Peace Prize and the London Fringe Award), Innocence (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1986), Carthaginians (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1988; Hampstead Theatre, London, 1989), Mary And Lizzie (RSC, 1989), The Bread Man (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 1991), The Bird Sanctuary (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1992), Mutabilitie (RNT, 1997), Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Hampstead, West End and Broadway 1992; West End 2005, winning the New York Critics’ Circle Award and Writers’ Guild Award for Best Play), Dolly West’s Kitchen (Abbey Theatre, 1999; Old Vic Theatre, 2000), Gates Of Gold (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 2002), Speaking Like Magpies (RSC, Stratford and London, 2005/6), There Came A Gypsy Riding (Almeida Theatre, 2007), Greta Garbo Came To Donegal (Tricycle Theatre, 2010), Crocodile (Sky Arts Live, Riverside Studios, 2010), The Match Box (Liverpool Playhouse, 2012), The Hanging Gardens (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2013), and a musical play Donegal, with music by Kevin Doherty, (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2016).

Adaptations of classic plays include Lorca’s Yerma, Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya, Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, A Doll’s House, Peer Gynt, The Lady From The Sea, John Gabriel Borkman, Ghosts, The Wild Duck and Rosmersholm, Sophocles’ Electra, Oedipus and Thebans, Ostrovsky’s The Storm, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, Euripides’ Hecuba and Helen, Racine’s Phaedra, Molina’s Damned By Despair, James Joyce’s The Dead, a dramatisation of Du Maurier’s Rebecca and Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. These adaptations have been performed repeatedly at the National, West End, on Broadway, and internationally, with Frank’s adaptation of A Doll’s House winning a Best Revival Tony Award and Outer Critics’ Award.

Television screenplays include The Stronger (BAFTA nomination, 2007), Scout (1987), The Hen House (1989, winning the Prix de l’Intervision and Prix de l’Art Critique at the 1990 Prague International Television Awards), Talk Of Angels (1998), Dancing At Lughnasa (1998), A Short Stay In Switzerland (2009) and A Song For Jenny (2015).

His first novel, Arimathea, was published by Brandon/O’Brien Press (2013) and they also published his novella, The Woodcutter and His Family (2017), and a collection of stories, Paprika, (2018). He has published seven volumes of poetry from Gallery Press, the most recent being May Twenty-Second.

Born in Buncrana, County Donegal, Frank McGuinness is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at University College Dublin.

Ian is an award-winning actor and singer, who has been nominated for four Olivier Awards for musicals in London’s West End and has won an MEN Award for playing Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Manchester Royal Exchange. He is best known for his performance as Geoff Metcalfe in Coronation Street, winning three Inside Soap Awards, including Best Actor and Best Villain.

Theatre credits include: The Homecoming (UK Tour), Half A Sixpence, (Chichester/West End) Mrs Henderson Presents (Bath Theatre Royal/West End), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Liverpool Playhouse), Arturo Ui in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Liverpool/Nottingham Playhouses), Shylock in Merchant of Venice (RSC), The Iceman Cometh (Almeida Theatre/Old Vic), The Front Page (Donmar Warehouse), Tommy (Shaftesbury Theatre), Dead Funny (Savoy Theatre), Radio Times (Queen’s Theatre), Into The Woods (Phoenix Theatre), Mayakovsky: The Slanting Rain (Edinburgh Festival/New York), The Beggar’s Opera, Guys and Dolls, Schweyck, The Government Inspector, The Power of Yes, Futurists and Pravda (National Theatre).

Television credits include: Endeavour, Marcella, The Accused, Spooks, The Echo, Road Rage, Wycliffe, Harry, Blackheath Poisonings, Darling Buds of May, Bergerac, Comic Strip, The Good Companions, Minder and The Professionals.

Film credits include: Wonka (Release 2023), Five I’s, Eisenstein, Shiner, Max and Helen, Prayer for the Dying, and Little Dorrit.

Ingrid’s most recent stage appearance was as Mag in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane for Chichester Festival and the Lyric Hammersmith. With b*spoke, Ingrid played Anna in David Mamet’s Boston Marriage, also directed by Loveday Ingram.

Other recent theatre work includes The Duchess of York in Richard III for Druid, the Abbey and The Lincoln Center, Sweet Bird of Youth for Chichester Festival, Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan in the West End and on Broadway and Grace in Brian Friel’s Faith Healer at the Gate Theatre, with Ralph Fiennes and Ian McDiarmid, directed by Jonathan Kent.

She began her film career in the BAFTA award winning The Ballroom of Romance, directed by Pat O’Connor, followed by John Huston’s The Dead, Da opposite Martin Sheen, Circle of Friends and A Man of No Importance.

Most recent film work includes Rita in Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother, Death of a Ladies Man and Renata Werner in Entebbe, directed by José Padilha.

Recent television appearances include The Madame Blanc Mysteries for Channel 5, the ABC pilot Epic, her IFTA nominated performance as Mary in the series Blood, and David Hare’s Roadkill for BBC.

Awards include the Special Tribute Award at the Irish Times Theatre Awards and the Trinity College Dublin Alumni Award for her contribution to Irish Theatre.

Greg Hicks is an Associate Artist of the RSC. Since joining in 1976 he has played many major roles including Macbeth, Coriolanus, (Olivier nomination and Critics Circle Award), Leontes, Lear, Claudius, Ghost of Hamlet, Caesar, Brutus, and Harry in Family Reunion. At the National Theatre and the Old Vic, he worked extensively with Sir Peter Hall, notably on the Greek canon including Orestes in Oresteia, Dionysus in The Bacchae, Tiresias in Oedipus, and Agamemnon/ Priam in Tantalus. Other roles include Aufidius in Coriolanus, Teddy in Homecoming, Lucky in Waiting for Godot, Edgar in King Lear and Hugh in Absolute Hell. He has worked extensively for the legendary Citizens Theatre (Glasgow) and performed ENRICO 4, Private Lives, Design for Living and Venice Preserved, all exclusively with Phillip Prowse. Further credits include the title role in Tamburlaine at the Barbican (David Farr), Open House at Print Room (Sir Michael Boyd) and Play Strindberg at Bath Theatre Royal (Nancy Meckler). Greg has a long history with the Arcola Theatre including An Enemy of the People, Clarion, The Kreutzer Sonata, Richard III and is delighted to return with Dinner With Groucho. He will be performing in the West End transfer of the highly acclaimed Oklahoma in 2023.

TV and Film includes: The Bible (Pilate), The Knock, Us Among the Stones, The Mercy, Citizen Charlie, Domina.

Alison McKenna trained as an actor in Trinity College, Dublin. As well as having a successful career as an actor, she has a long-established record of producing theatrical experiences and cultural events in Ireland, London and New York.

In 2002, Alison founded b*spoke theatre company with Jane Brennan and produced eight years of multi-award nominated (and occasionally winning) productions. On relocating to New York in 2013, Alison created and produced www.saloneire100.com. This multidisciplinary festival was created to trace the journey of the Irish artist across one hundred years 1916 – 2016; and encompassed poetry, theatre, art, photography and literature. Supported by Culture Ireland, Salon Éire 100 had the following associate partners; New York Public Library at Lincoln Center; Irish Repertory Theatre Company; American Irish Historical Society and the Irish Consulate, New York.

In 2016 Alison was engaged as the Consultant Producer to the Irish Consulate in New York for the Irish government’s Centenary Commemoration of 1916. This was an event for five thousand people in Battery Park, 24th April.

On return to the UK in 2017 Alison was engaged by the Irish Embassy in London as the Consultant Producer on St. Brigid’s Day. She worked with the Embassy team to create the blueprint for the inaugural event in 2017 which the Embassy continues to use to this day. 1st February is now Ireland’s newest public holiday.

www.alison-mckenna.com

Loveday Ingram is a theatre director and adapter who has directed plays and musicals in the West End, for the RSC, internationally, and regionally thoughout the UK to great acclaim. Many of her shows have won or been nominated for awards, including her five-star adaptation of Aphra Behn’s The Rover for the Royal Shakespeare Company, her production of Gershwin’s My One and Only at Chichester Festival Theatre and the Piccadilly Theatre which was nominated for four Olivier Awards and a TMA Best Musical Award, and her production of Rogers and Hart’s My Pal Joey for Chichester Festival which was also nominated for Best Musical in the TMA awards. Her production of Outlying Islands for Bath Theatre Royal was Venue Magazine Critics’ Choice Best Production.

Other notable productions include the 2022 UK tour of Fatal Attraction for ATG and SBT, David Hare’s The Blue Room for CFT/Theatre Royal Haymarket, Bedroom Farce at Noel Coward Theatre, Beckett’s Rockaby for the Beckett Centenary Festival at the Gate Theatre, and Boston Marriage and Hysteria for b*spoke. International work includes Baskerville by Ken Ludwig at the National Theatre of China, Merchant of Venice for the RSC. Her short film This Time It’s Forever represented Women’s Aid internationally in 2020. She has an MA in English and Classics and trained with John Barton at the RSC.

Adam graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with First Class Honours in Theatre Design and became a group winner of the Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design.

Theatre designs include: Miss Julie, Antigone, The Suicide, Blue Stockings (Chester Storyhouse), Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Crazy for You, On The 20th Century, Merrily We Roll Along and Plenty (GSMD), Hansel & Gretel (Rose Theatre), Macbeth (Severn Theatre), The Arrival (Tamasha/Circus Space), Baggage (Arts Theatre West End), Red Fortress, Billy the Kid and Antarctica (Unicorn Theatre), My Mother Said I Never Should (West Yorkshire Playhouse), David Copperfield (Mercury Theatre), Private Lives (The New Wolsey Theatre) as well as productions for Watford Palace Theatre, Tron Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, RADA and Salisbury Playhouse.

Dance designs include: Tanglewood, Sensorium and Children of Adam (Royal Ballet main stage), Miracle in the Gorbals and Quatrain (Birmingham Royal Ballet), Kiss and Vamos Cuba! (Sadler’s Wells).

Opera designs include: Romeo et Juliette and Bluebeard’s Castle (Opera North), Radamisto, Der Silbersee, Duenna, Teseo, The Abduction From The Seraglio and Dido & Aeneas (English Touring Opera), Albert Herring (Mid Wales Opera), Le nozze di Figaro (RNCM), Riccardo Primo (RCM) and L’amico Fritz (Danish National Opera).

As an Associate Designer Adam has opened productions of Les Misérables in Korea, Australia, Europe and Japan.

Joan Bergin is a three-time Emmy and five-time IFTA award-winning costume designer, best known for her work on The Tudors, as well as landmark Irish films such as My Left Foot and Dancing at Lughnasa.

Recent work includes: Disenchanted (2021) starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and Maya Rudolf; All God’s Creatures (2021) starring Paul Mescal, Emily Watson and Sean McGinley; Riverdance Revamped (Radio City, New York); The Secret Scripture (2017), starring Rooney Mara, Vanessa Redgrave, Eric Banna and Theo James and The Catcher Was a Spy (2016), starring Paul Rudd, Sienna Miller and Guy Pierce; A Little Chaos, directed by Alan Rickman, starring Kate Winslet; The Prestige directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johannson; LA (2006) and Veronica Guerin directed by Joel Schumacher, starring Cate Blanchett. She is also the Costume Designer for Riverdance on Broadway.

This is Joan’s fourth time working with b*spoke theatre company having previously designed the costumes for Electra by Sophocles, in a version by Frank McGuinness; Tejas Verdes by Fermín Cabal, translated by Robert Shaw and Family Stories by Biljana Srbljanovic, translated by Rebecca Ann Rugg.

After completing a B.A. in fashion and textiles at NCAD, followed by a two-year stint with Ib Jorgensen, Gabriel moved from the world of fashion to the world of costume for film and theatre. His first foray into theatre was Shaw’s John Bull’s Other Island at the Gaiety as assistant to Joan Bergin.

This was followed by a period working at the Costume Shop on several shows at the Gate, including Salomé directed by Steven Berkoff and Sheridan’s The Rivals.

Film work that followed included Far and Away, In the Name of the Father, Braveheart, Michael Collins, Some Mother’s Son, Dancing at Lughnasa, and Alan Rickman’s The Winter Guest and A Little Chaos.

Intervening theatre projects were Sam Sheppard’s Kicking a Dead Horse and Ages of the Moon.

As a design assistant to Joan Bergin, he received an Emmy for his work on The Tudors. This was followed by four seasons of the TV series Vikings for the History Channel. Gabriel is currently working on a film adaptation of Long Day’s Journey into Night and is delighted to be back in theatre again with Joan. Item description

Paul’s previous designs for b*spoke theatre company include: Family Stories and Tejas Verdes.

Other recent lighting designs include: The Steward of Christendom, Hamlet, The Snapper, The Red Shoes (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Translations (Abbey Theatre, Dublin and Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Portia Coughlan, Citysong, Last Orders At The Dockside, Katie Roche (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Elektra, Fidelio, Aida, The Marriage of Figaro (Irish National Opera), Scandaltown, Love Love Love, The Plough And The Stars (Lyric, Hammersmith), Doubt (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Naked Hand, Shirley Valentine, Double Cross, Here Comes The Night (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Happy Days, Blood In The Dirt, Postcards From The Ledge (Landmark Productions), I Think We Are Alone (Frantic Assembly UK Tour), Cyprus Avenue (Abbey Theatre, MAC Belfast, Public Theater NY, Royal Court), The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic), The Gaul, A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian (Hull Truck), Guests Of The Nation, Far Away (Corcadorca Theatre Company), The Treaty, Duck Duck Goose (Fishamble, Dublin), Semele, The Return of Ulysses (Opera Collective Ireland), The Gondoliers/Utopia Ltd (Scottish Opera, D’Oyly Carte Opera, State Opera, South Australia), Dyad (Justine Doswell); Sama, Flight (Rambert), Lost, Giselle (Ballet Ireland) and No Man’s Land (English National Ballet and Queensland Ballet).

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David is the Artistic Director and co-founder of CoisCéim Dance Theatre. His work has been seen by millions of people worldwide and has received prestigious awards for its innovation, performance, and choreography. David has directed and choreographed over twenty original productions for CoisCéim, including the highly lauded In the Magic Hour/Body Language, Francis Footwork, The Wolf and Peter and the major international co-production These Rooms (Irish Times Theatre Award), London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), TATE Liverpool. His work for the company has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Peak Performances in the USA, China, Spring Loaded (The Place), The Brighton Festival, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK), Ten Days on the Island (Tasmania), Arts Centre Melbourne and Sydney Opera House (Australia).

David has received numerous choreographic commissions for theatre and opera including Druid (Ireland), Spoleto Festival (USA), Guthrie Theatre (USA), RTÉ (Ireland), National Theatre, Royal Opera House and English National Opera (UK), Abbey Theatre (Ireland) and Opera Ireland. Film works include Dancing at Lughnasa, Deep End Dance (Writer/Choreographer) and the award-winning short film How to Sink a Paper Boat (Writer/Director/Choreographer). David is a member of Aosdána.

Conor Linehan is a composer, pianist and teacher based in Dublin. He has composed theatre scores for the all the major Irish companies as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and many other British theatres. Recent commissions include Joyce’s Women (Abbey Theatre), The Tin Soldier (Gate Theatre and Galway International Arts Festival), Gravity (Bottom Dog Theatre Company), Three Short O’Casey Comedies (Druid Theatre) and Backwards Up A Rainbow (Landmark).

Other compositions include The Patient Women (Irish National Opera) An Autumn Night’s Dream for Cello Quartet (Music Network tour) and piano pieces Intermezzo, for the Dublin International Piano Competition and Roadshow for pianist Joanna MacGregor.

As a pianist Conor is a regular performer with both the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra and performs a wide range of solo and chamber music. He is on the piano faculty of the Royal Irish Academy of Music where he also teaches courses in improvisation. Conor is also a member of the WhistleBlast Quartet who give composition workshops and perform concerts in schools and venues throughout Ireland.

Eamon is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin where he read Drama and Theatre Studies.

He is a freelance Lighting Designer, Production Manager and poly-technician operating in the Irish Theatre System. He was resident for many years in Draíocht Arts Centre as the in-house Production Manager with responsibility for the safe staging of all productions. Eamon’s most recent tenure was as Technical Manager to Science Gallery Dublin at TCD where he was resident for a number of years.

He has worked with numerous theatre companies including CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Verdant Productions, Ballet Ireland and The Blackwater Festival, to name a few recent ones. This is his first time working with b*spoke theatre company.

Audrey Cepeda is a graduate of Rose Bruford, London and has worked in theatre for over twenty years. She started as stage manager with b*spoke theatre company on their production of Electra by Sophocles in a version by Frank McGuinness and is excited to be working with them again on the world premiere of Dinner With Groucho. Audrey is also a teacher of English and Drama and when not working in theatre she mentors neurodiverse teens and young adults interested in all aspects of theatre in Ireland.

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Rachel is from Dublin and graduated in 2021 with a degree in music from the Technological University in Grangegorman. Since then, she has worked in Irish National Opera both as a performer in the chorus and as an Assistant Stage Manager, most recently as an ASM for Tosca at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. She is delighted to make her debut in theatre with b*spoke theatre company.

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Rachel works predominantly as a director. She was most recently the Assistant Director to Loveday Ingram on the Smith & Brant/ATG UK Tour of Fatal Attraction.

She was the Assistant Director to Abbey Wright on Dublin Carol for the Donmar at Trafalgar Studios Season. She has recently directed As You Like It by William Shakespeare at The New Normal Festival and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Rachel is currently studying towards her PhD in Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham, alongside working in theatre.

Pat is one of Ireland's best-known magicians and illusionists. See abcmagic.ie for more information.

Bernard O’Donoghue was born in Cullen, Co Cork in 1945 and he still lives there for part of the year. Since 1965 he has lived in Oxford where he taught Medieval English and Modern Irish Literature at Wadham College. He has published seven volumes of poems of which the most recent was The Seasons of Cullen Church (Faber 2016). He is President of the Irish Literary Society in London, and he is working on a collected edition of the poems of Seamus Heaney.