About
Set against the backdrop of a single Sunday afternoon in County Meath, Meredith is a darkly comedic drama that peels back the layers of a family held together by secrets, shared history, and a stubborn refusal to age gracefully. Meredith is written by Erica Murray and directed by Annabelle Comyn as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. Meredith’s daughter, Noelle, attempts to manage her mother’s…
Set against the backdrop of a single Sunday afternoon in County Meath, Meredith is a darkly comedic drama that peels back the layers of a family held together by secrets, shared history, and a stubborn refusal to age gracefully. Meredith is written by Erica Murray and directed by Annabelle Comyn as part of Dublin Theatre Festival.
Meredith’s daughter, Noelle, attempts to manage her mother’s recovery with rigid rules and downstairs beds, Meredith is busy exploring the world of online dating, lending money to mysterious men and striking up a flirtatious “friendship” with her eccentric new neighbour, Terry.
The arrival of Meredith’s grandson Lorcan, who is under a self-imposed “house arrest” after his own run-in with trouble sets off chain reaction of revelations. As the sun sets, the family must confront a series of crises, from cyber-scams and drug debts to long-buried grievances about a mother who once walked away.
“Why must the words vulnerable and old always go together?”
Opening on 30 September, with previews from 25 September. It runs till 1 November.
ABOUT THE WRITER:
ERICA MURRAY
Erica is from County Limerick, Ireland. She holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin and an MFA in Playwriting from The Lir Academy. While in college, she wrote her first play called Bunk which won the Irish Student Drama Award for Best New Writing. She is a previous member of the Soho Theatre Young Writers Group, Lyric New Playwright’s Programme and the Six in the Attic programme at Irish Theatre Institute.
In 2018, her play; The Cat’s Mother, toured to London, Edinburgh and Dublin Fringe where it won the Fishamble Award for Best New Writing and was subsequently nominated for the Stewart Parker Trust Award.
In 2019, she was the Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence at The Lyric Theatre in Belfast where her second play All Mod Cons premiered. The new play she wrote while on this residency won the Sonia Friedman Award.
Her play The Loved Ones premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival 2023 in a co-production between Rough Magic and The Gate Theatre to critical acclaim. It was remounted in 2025 and went on an Irish national tour.
In 2024, she wrote a play for young audiences for The Abbey Theatre called In Real Life which has been performed across many primary and secondary schools around Ireland. It is currently touring again this May.
The Loved Ones has been recently produced in Buffalo at the Irish Classical Theatre Company and is currently about to be produced at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York.
Erica currently has a residency at the National Theatre Studio in London.
