Sheila O’Connor is in trouble. She has been drinking too much lately at her favorite pub, The Dublin Rose, and has become a danger to herself. When her worried grandson arrives, determined to re-locate from her beloved Richmond Hill, Queens to an assisted living community in New Jersey, the battle line are drawn. Over the course of one tumultuous vodka-fueled evening filled with Irish magic and long buried secrets, Sheila will re-discover the true meaning of home.
The Battles of Richmond Hill
By Penny Jackson
HERE ARTS
91 Central Productions in association with Anemone Productions
“The Battles of Richmond Hill is a small play with big emotions, a finely crafted character study of people who easily might have been caricatured. Jackson’s writing and MacGowan’s direction make these people important” -Joel Benjamin Theatre Scene.net
Playwright Penny Jackson packs generations of family drama into this 90 minute jukebox play….memorable moments, lots of laughs… an all too familiar feel where love, loss and liquor seep into every scene of Irish turmoil; Director Kathy Gail MacGowan and David Goldstein create a cozy pub as persona for battles…the allure of pub culture…so much can happen in “the heat of the drink "- Derek McCracken Broadway World
The Battles of Richmond Hill invites us to a sliver of that at a local watering hole called the Dublin Rose. Set avenue-style, director Kathy Gail MacGowan and scenic designer David Goldstein offer us an experience: to enjoy a libation while we eavesdrop on the drama unfolding…. a universal story ..in which anyone can identify; it moves swiftly, brings out the emotional, make you laugh, and makes you love. -Malini Singh McDonald Malinism
The Battles of Richmond Hill is a wonderful play with top notch performances and a story that will have you laughing one minute and bawling like a baby the next (I know I was), It’s a story about family and what keeps it together as well as what tears it apart and how long one can keep grasping at the past before it slips between their fingers. -Max Barry, OnStageBlog
photos by Emily Hewitt Photography