New play Laois Woman to be performed at world-famous Abbey Theatre

The world-famous Abbey Theatre has produced a new play by a Laois woman with the support of the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise during the prestigious Dublin Theatre Festival.

Once Off Productions presents Guest Host Stranger Ghost by writer and Portloaise resident Kate Heffernan. Set against the backdrop of Ireland’s housing crisis, it is described as a funny and heartbreaking cry for a moment of peace in a transient life.

The Dublin Theatre Festival will see the world premiere of the play, which will be performed at the Abbey and the famous Gate Theatre.

Kate Heffernan is a playwright and theatre artist from Derrygarran, Portlaoise, where she lives and works. Her first play, In dog years I am dead (directed by Maisie Lee) won the 2013 Stewart Parker Trust Emerging Playwright Award.

Kate has a long history of working with Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise, both as a staff member and theatre artist. In 2014 she was a theatre artist in residence at Dunamaise with director Maisie Lee, where she wrote Hometroots, a series of short radio plays created by, for and about the people of Laois. Dunamaise supports the production of Guest Host Stranger Ghost, where they hosted the company for the first week of rehearsals.

Heffernan’s story follows life in a house shared by a mismatched trio who rent a house belonging to an elderly woman who is now spending her final days in a nursing home. The odd roommates struggle to find connection in their short time there—and space for themselves amidst the stuff of her life.

“Playful and boldly inventive, this traveling new play will crisscross the city to borrow scenes from other festival productions. Because no two performances will share the same set, each iteration will offer a completely unique encounter,” the statement said.

Her new play is set to address the housing crisis in Ireland and the uncertain life scenarios that have followed, and includes conversations about sex and death.

Peat, Kate’s first play for children (directed by Tim Crouch), was commissioned and produced by The Ark in 2019. In 2023, The Ark staged a rehearsal reading of Always the Two of Us, a scripted documentary theatre piece commissioned by Ark in partnership with One Family, based on interviews with men and women who grew up in single-parent families in Ireland over the last 50 years.

Kate was awarded the Abbey Theatre Commemoration Bursary in 2021, through which she developed Stories from the End of the Garden, a play about siblings and loss and a history of war from a children’s perspective. The Abbey completed a pilot project in 2023, using the text as the basis for a classroom-based process drama. Kate is an Associate Artist with Theatre Lovett and the creator and designer of their acclaimed Young Adults’ Showcase series.

Kate is directed by Eoghan Carrick, with lighting by Sarah Jane Shiels, and creative producers are Cally Shine and Maura O’Keeffe. The cast includes Finbarr Doyle, Shadaan Felfeli and Maeve O’Mahony

Dublin Theatre Festival 2024 takes place from 26 September to October. It features over 30 productions with a variety of themes.

If you would like to see Kate’s play during the Festival, you will find a list of performances below the cast photo.

Design Art Center (top)East Essex St, Temple Bar

Thursday 3rd October at 4:00 PM / €25; Saturday 12th October at 3:00 PM /

€25 Project ticket office – Tel: 01 881 9613 /

DTF Ticket Office –

Design Art Center (Cube)East Essex St, Temple Bar

Saturday 5th October @ 1pm / €25; Friday 11th October @ 13:00 / €25

Project ticket office – Tel: 01 881 9613 /

DTF Ticket Office –

Smock Alley Theatre

Friday 4th and Friday 11th October at 4pm / €25

Smock Ticket Office – Tel: 01 677 0014 /

DTF Ticket Office –

Gateway Theatre (as part of the Gate Theatre Crashes series)

Tuesday 8th October @ 16:00 / €25

Ticket Office Gate – Tel: 01 874 4045 /

DTF Ticket Office –

Abbey Theatre

Thursday 10th October @ 16:00 / €25

Abbey Box Office – Tel: (01) 878 7222

DTF Ticket Office –

For more information visit www.dublinteatrefestival.ie