Baritone Boylan’s role in ‘Grania’ at Abbey Theatre
Dunboyne operatic lyric baritone, Sean Boylan, is performing in Lady Gregory's 'Grania', currently running at the Abbey Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.
Written more than a century ago and reimagined for the Abbey Stage in a contemporary context by the Abbey's artistic director, Caitríona McLaughlin, Grania is based on the Irish legend of Gráinne, Diarmuid and Fionn; a story of love, lust, power and desire.
Gráinne and Fionn, a royal couple in waiting, are due to be wed before Fionn’s fiercest warrior Diarmuid returns, who Gráinne quickly falls for and runs away with. Friends are pitted against each other while a woman creates her own destiny, laying bare the tension between duty and passion.
Caitríona McLaughlin says: “The Irish story throughout history is a story of displacement and exile. Of an existence eked out on the fringes. A narrative so embedded in our literature and music, our culture and psyche, that it seems astonishing how often we forget it – but then memory is unreliable. Diarmuid and Gráinne is considered one of the greatest love stories of all time.
In Grania, Lady Gregory’s version certainly is that, but not in the way you might think. I’ve wanted to direct it for a long time and a play about a couple living in exile, fleeing for their lives and living in a tent and by their wits seemed pertinent.
She continued: “I believe Irish audiences don’t like to be told what to think. Personally, I always like to come at an issue askance, creating space to consider and reflect.
“With 'Safe House' on the Peacock Stage, these productions are very consciously paired to create space for our audiences to reflect on our past and those who had to flee our shores, for a myriad of reasons, and on our present and those we’re asked to shelter, also for a myriad of reasons. At the same time, they are simply two brilliant, intriguing, entertaining and very different plays and can be engaged with purely for pleasure and for a great story.”
Grania is played by Ella Lily Hyland, who was named Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2023, and is best known for her lead role in the Amazon series, 'Fifteen Love', starring opposite Aidan Turner. She will soon be seen in Johnny Barrington's debut feature film, 'Silent Roar' for BBC Films and the BFI, and opposite Stephen Graham in Stephen Knight's 'One Thousand Blows' for Disney Plus.
Lorcan Cranitch plays Finn, having been most recently seen in Mark O'Rowe's new version of Ibsen's 'Ghosts' for Landmark Productions and the Abbey Theatre, and as Sir John Stevens in 'The Crown' on Netflix. He will be appearing in season two of Sharon Horgan's 'Bad Sisters' on Apple TV. Playing Diarmuid is Niall Wright from Belfast, returning to the Abbey having previously been in Marina Carr's 'By the Bog of Cats'. He has fronted BBC crime drama, Hope Street, now entering its fourth series.
Sean Boylan and Laura Sheeran are the vocalists. Boylan was a semi-finalist on the 2024 Hans Gabor Belveder International Singing Competition, and forthcoming roles are as Alcandro in 'L'Olimpiade' in Teatro Noto di Lorenzo, Sicily; Marullo in 'Rogoletto' at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin; and Frank in 'Die Fledermaus' on an Irish tour with Irish National Opera.
'Grania' runs at the Abbey until Saturday 26th October.