Today, acclaimed Irish actor Gabriel Byrne’s solo show Walking with Ghosts, joins the Edinburgh International Festival programme as a UK premiere from 24 to 28 August in this, the Festival's 75th anniversary year. From the award-winning Landmark Productions, Byrne’s solo performance follows his childhood in Dublin through to his major Hollywood career in seven performances at the Kings Theatre. Tickets are on sale now www.eif.co.uk.
Adapted from his best-selling 2020 memoir of the same name, Walking with Ghosts tells the story of Byrne growing up on the outskirts of Dublin, where he sought refuge in a world of imagination among the fields and hills near his home. Eventually, he turned to amateur dramatics on the advice of a friend, after failing to become a priest, and a plumber. By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Walking with Ghosts is a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies.
Directed by three-time Emmy award-winning theatre director Lonny Price (Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, Company and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert) Walking with Ghosts’ sell-out run at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in February 2022 marked Byrne’s first appearance on the Irish stage in 40 years. Following the UK premiere in Edinburgh, the performance transfers to the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End, from 6-17 September, presented by Landmark, Neal Street and Playful Productions. The creative team on the production also includes Sinéad McKenna (set and lighting designer), Joan O’Clery (costume designer) and Sinéad Diskin (sound designer).
Walking with Ghosts marks Landmark Productions’ return to the Edinburgh International Festival following the world premiere of Medicine in 2021, written and directed by Enda Walsh and featuring Domhnall Gleeson.
Gabriel Byrne said, “I last performed in Edinburgh in a series of Yeats plays directed by Jim Sheridan at the Richard Demarco Gallery. Now, many years later, it's a real honour to be invited back to Edinburgh to perform Walking with Ghosts at one of the world's great festivals. It's particularly special to be in the International Festival programme in its 75th year and also as it returns to full capacity.”
