Glue Programme

Rough Magic and Axis, Ballymun
present
Glue
By Robbie O'Connor
Dean
Aidan
Writer
Director
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Production Manager
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Hair and Make Up
Costume Supervisor
Chief LX
Digital Marketing
Publicity
Photography
Graphic Design
John Cronin
Robbie O'Connor
Robbie O'Connor
Ronan Phelan
Alan Farquharson
Catherine Fay
Sarah Jane Shiels
Fiona Sheil
Rob Furey
Grainne McKnight
John Norton
Val Sherlock
Iseult Deane
Maeubh Brennan
Aileen Power
Christine Monk
Ste Murray
Stuart Bradfield

Rough Magic Theatre Company
Since its foundation in 1984 Rough Magic has built an organisation characterised by continual regeneration.
Its adherence to artistic excellence, pluralism, and an egalitarian approach to the creative ensemble, has
delivered over 134 productions and over 65 Irish premieres, the debuts of many theatre-makers, and the
pioneering SEEDS programme.
The company has evolved around the principle that we are part of a world culture that can celebrate Irish
identity diverse in nature and outward looking in its vision. Our policy has three strands: commissioning new
Irish work, presenting the best of contemporary international writing and innovative productions from the
classical repertoire. These shows frequently feature live music commissioned for the production. Based in
Dublin, Rough Magic regularly performs at Project Arts Centre and other major venues, and tours in Ireland,
the UK and beyond, garnering many awards, both at home and abroad.
Launched in 2001, and an acknowledged leader of professional development in Irish theatre, the SEEDS
programme become an engine for the support and advancement of a new generation. Twenty years after
founding SEEDS, the company launched COMPASS in 2021, folding play development and support for
emerging theatre artists into the company’s core programming. COMPASS will commission new writing as
well as providing practical assistance, mentoring and sharing of resources.
Rough Magic is connected across the full spectrum of theatre activity, experience and creative practice. With
each project we undertake, the aim is firstly to make great theatre, but also to advance and contribute to the
cultural life of Ireland. Rough Magic believes that a strong theatre sector is necessary for our growth as a
modern democracy. We will continue to put the artist at the centre of our production and development
strategies; to strengthen our position as a national company which responds to the needs of all parts of the
island; and to form supportive partnerships with organisations and individuals who share our sense of the
value of art in general, and theatre in particular, in offering a new vision for the nation
Rough Magic
Artistic Director
General Manager
Producer
Production Coordinator
Associate Director
Literary Manager
Bookkeeper
Trainee Producer
Lynne Parker
Gemma Reeves
Sara Cregan
Cian Mulhall
Ronan Phelan
Karin McCully
Seerish Sanassy
Grace Halton
Hecuba, by Marina Carr. Photo by Ste Murray

Biographies
ROBBIE O’CONNOR – Writer and Aidan
Robbie graduated with a B.A (Hons) in Acting from The Lir Academy, Trinity
College Dublin in 2015. As an actor his credits include The Red Shoes (The
Gate); Faultline, The Lost O’Casey, Hentown, Zero Hour, PALS, Boys of Foley Street,
Laundry, World's End Lane, BASIN and Down The Valley (ANU); Northern Star
(Rough Magic / UK tour); REBEL REBEL (Fringe / Show in a Bag); Hamlet (Second
Age); End of The Road (Fishamble) and All that Fall (Pan Pan).
Film and TV credits include: Hawks Nest (ANU); TinderFace (The Lir); All Is By My
Side (Subotica); Leisure Centre (Desperate Optimists); Hidden (BBC) and Fair City
(RTÉ).
He is an Arts Council Next Generation Artist and an associate artist of Axis.
His second play The Beatitudes is currently in development
JOHN CRONIN - Dean
John's theatre credits include: Restoration (Shaun Dunne); Sunder, On
Corporation Street, Pals (ANU); A View from the Bridge, My Cousin Rachel, and
Glengarry Glen Ross (The Gate); Digging for Fire (Rough Magic); Othello (Second
Age); I am My Own Wife (Prime Cut); The End of the Road (Fishamble); The
Comedy of Errors, Saved, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Romeo & Juliet (The
Abbey); Stuck (Project Arts Centre) and Stones in His Pockets (Duchess Theatre).
Film and TV credits include: Legend and Trivia and Resistance (RTÉ); Black
47 (Fastnet Films); The Foreigner (Netflix); Trial of the Century (TV3) and the role of
Will Casey in Fair City.
RONAN PHELAN – Director
Ronan is Rough Magic’s Associate Director. His productions for Rough Magic include: Tonic, Much Ado
About Nothing, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play (Rough Magic SEEDS),The
Effect and Assassins (Rough Magic SEEDS). Previous directing credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Much Ado
About Nothing (The Lir, Dublin) and Twelfth Night (LAMDA, London).
Ronan is a former participant of the Rough Magic SEEDS programme and spent 18 months as Resident
Assistant Director at the Abbey Theatre.

Biographies
Alan Farquharson – Set Design
Alan began his career in the RTE Design Department. There he designed for every aspect of television,
from current affairs to entertainment. He was also Production Designer on a number of RTE’s major film
dramas and as Senior Production Designer was responsible for the design of the Eurovision Song
Contests of 1993 and 1995. Throughout this time he also regularly designed for the stage.
As a freelance designer his work continues to span the gamut of theatre, television and film, both in
Ireland and abroad. He has designed a number of feature films and television drama series including Red
Rock and The Bailout. His most recent project was the re-design of Riverdance for its 25th anniversary tour.
His previous work with Rough Magic includes Peer Gynt (co-designed with John Comiskey), The Bonefire,
Words of Advice for Young People, The Life of Galileo, Take Me Away and Improbable Frequency.
Alan was a consultant on the development of the B.A. (Hons) Design for Stage and Screen Course at IADT
Dunlaoghaire and is a part-time lecturer there in Production Design, Computer Aided Design and Digital
Visualisation.
CATHERINE FAY– Costume Design
Catherine Fay designs costumes for Theatre, Dance and Opera.
Recent credits include iGirl, Walls and Windows, 14 Voices, The Plough and the Stars, Oedipus, Our Few and
Evil Days (Abbey Theatre); Elektra, Orfeo and Euridice (Irish National Opera); Transmission (Little Wolf
Theatre Company); Embargo (Fishamble); Much Ado about Nothing (Rough Magic); Naher ….nearer, closer,
sooner, Bastard Amber, 12 Minute Dances, Totems (Liz Roche Company); The Return of Ulysses, Owen
Wingrave (Opera Collective Ireland); Girl Song (United Fall); Acis and Galatea (Opera Theatre Company);
Owen Wingrave (Opera Bastille, Paris, 2016.); The Importance of Nothing (Pan Pan); Breaking Dad (Landmark
Productions) and Romeo and Juliet and The Threepenny Opera (The Gate).
Catherine holds the position of Chair of The Irish Society of Stage and Screen Designers. (ISSSD)
Sarah Jane Shiels – Lighting Design
SJ began designing lighting in Dublin Youth Theatre, completing a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies in
2006 and more recently a M.Sc in Interactive Digital Media in 2021 (Trinity College Dublin). Her work with
Rough Magic began on the SEEDS programme from 2006 - 2008. From 2010 – 2017, she was founder
and co-artistic director of WillFredd Theatre.

Biographies
Recent lighting designs include Conversations After Sex (This Is Pop Baby); Book of Names (ANU); The Veiled
Ones (Junk Ensemble); Afterlove (Stephanie Dufresne, Galway Dance Project, Galway Arts Festival); The City
is Never Finished (Peter Power, Kilkenny Arts Festival); I Walked into my Head (Karan Casey, Kilkenny Arts
Festival); One Good Turn (Abbey Theatre); Day Crossing Farm (Marie Brett, Cork Midsummers Festival);
Woman in the Machine (Carlow Arts Festival); Party Scene (This is Pop Baby); What Did I Miss? (The Ark); Sruth
na Teanga (Branar Téatar do Pháistí); Hansel and Gretel (Irish National Opera, Theatre Lovett, Abbey
Theatre) and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (Collapsing Horse).
Fiona Sheil – Sound Design
Fiona Sheil is a Sound designer and Composer. She graduated with a Masters in Experimental Sound
from UCC in 2020. Fiona was nominated for The Hearsay Audio Prize 2021.
Collaborations with Catherine Young include State of Exception, Ultima Thule, The Choreography Project, The
river will still run to the sea for Mind your step and Welcoming the Stranger as part of The Casement Project
2016.
Other design credits include No one see the video directed by Samantha Cade; Holy Mary by Eoin Coilfer;
Madhouse by Una McKevitt & PJ Gallagher (DFF/Abbey Theatre); Anatomy of a Suicide directed by Tom
Creed and CITY by John McCarthy at the Everyman Theatre.
She was chosen for The Centre Stage project 2020/21, run by Theatre Forum, with La Escuela Pública de
Formación Cultural (Spain), & Kultur i Väst (Sweden).
Upcoming projects include Catherine Young’s Floating on a Dead Sea as part of Dublin Dance Festival
2021 & Rough Magic’s All the Angels.
Grainne McKnight – Stage Manager
Grainne has been working in theatre since she was 15 when she started working backstage on musical
society productions in various departments. From there she developed a keen interest in stage
management and lighting. Since graduating from The Lir Academy in 2016, Grainne has work on
numerous plays, operas, and musicals, includeing Factory Girls, The Spinning Heart, Riverdance, Into The
Woods, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, La Traviata, La Bohème and Madame Butterfly.

Rough Magic would like to thank our Patrons, we could not do this
work without your generous support.
Abirgreen Ltd, Desmond Barry, Ray and Mary Bates, Gordon Bell, Lillian
Buchanan, Caroline Canning, Catherine Cashman Santoro, Alison Cowzer
and Michael Carey, Donall Curtin, Elma Cusack, Ultan Dillon and Grazielly
Noronha Muniz, William and Catherine Earley, Julian Erskine, John Fanning,
Mary Finan, Anne Fogarty, Roy Foster, Kathryn Gilfillan, Michael Gleeson,
Joseph Hasset, Timothy King, Hidden Peak Ltd, Aine MacCallion, Pat Mangan,
R.J. McBratney, Denis and Elma McCullough, David Nolan, Cormac Ó
Cuilleanáin, John O’Donnell, Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey, George and
Margaret Parker, Ian Scott, Gerry Smyth, Gordon Snell
… And those who prefer to remain anonymous.
To learn more about the company and upcoming productions please
visit www.roughmagic.ie or follow us on Twitter @RoughMagicIRL
For more information on becoming a Rough Magic Patron please
contact Gemma at gemma@roughmagic.ie
Special thanks to
Niamh Ní Chonchubhair
and all at Axis;
Willie White and all at
Dublin Theatre Festival;
Stuart Bradfield;
Samantha Cade; Niamh
Carrick;
Kat Ennis and the Lir;
Morris Epstein;
Ellen Guild;
Anne Hyland;
Jim Leonard;
Louise Lowe;
Fiona McEntee;
Dan Monaghan;
Gavin Mooney;
Ste Murray;
Michael Glenn Murphy;
Mark O’Brien;
Nathan O'Donnell and
Cally Shine.
For ages 16+. Contains mentions of suicide, abuse, mental health and sexual explicitness
If you have been affected by issues in the play and are in need of support and information,
please contact:
Rape Crisis Centre (National 24h Helpline): 1800 77 8888
Dublin Rape Crisis Centre: 01 661 4911 | drcc.ie
Rape Crisis Network Ireland: 01 865 6954 | rcni.ie
Your Mental Health|1800 111 888 | yourmentalhealth.ie
Samaritans (24h Helpline)| 116 123|samaritans.org
Rough Magic is a registered Charity no 20205902. | Funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.