The Lyric Hammersmith will host Richard Bean’s new play The Big Fellah from 21 September to 16 October as part of a UK tour.
The Big Fellah is set among the Irish-American community in New York. A story spanning three decades, it centres on young fireman Michael Doyle, who decides to live up to his Irish heritage by joining the IRA. He is recruited by Costello, the charismatic ‘Big Fellah’ who wants to use Doyle’s apartment in the Bronx as a safe house for an escaped killer. But it soon becomes clear that someone is leaking information to the FBI.
Bean’s many plays include The English Game, Harvest and England People Very Nice, which played at the National Theatre last year. His short play On The Side Of The Angels can be seen as part of the Tricycle theatre’s Afghanistan season The Great Game in July.
The Big Fellah is directed by former Artistic Director of the Royal Court Max Stafford-Clark, whose Out of Joint theatre company is co-producing the play with the Lyric Hammersmith.
Finbar Lynch (Dancing At Lughnasa at the Old Vic, Not About Nightingales at the National Theatre) plays the title role in a cast that also includes David Ricardo-Pearce, Rory Keenan, Youssef Kerkour, Claire Rafferty, Fred Ridgeway and Stephanie Street.
CB