Erica Murray’s The Loved Ones, in co-production with the Gate Theatre, had its world premiere as part of Dublin Theatre Festival.
In a remote renovated farmhouse, Nell prepares to scatter her son’s ashes with her grieving daughter-in-law, Orla, while Cheryl-Ann, a visitor from America, settles in for an idyllic break in the wilds of West Clare.
However, their weekend plans will be turned upside down when an unexpected guest arrives looking for shelter, solace and understanding.
In this beautiful world premiere from Erica Murray, a situation as unlikely as it is inevitable will send these four lives reeling, leaving them questioning the true nature of love, loss and birds.
The Loved Ones received its World Premiere production at the Gate Theatre as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2023.
Erica Murray is a playwright originally from County Limerick. She has a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin and an MFA in Playwriting from The Lir Academy. She is a previous member of the Six in the Attic scheme with the Irish Theatre Institute, the Soho Theatre New Writers course and the Lyric Theatre New Playwrights Programme. Her first play, The Cat’s Mother, toured to London, Edinburgh and the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2018 where it won the Fishamble Award for Best New Writing and was nominated for the Stewart Parker Award. In 2019 she was the Channel 4 writer-in-residence at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast where her play All Mod Cons premiered. She also received the Sonia Friedman Award for her new play The Magnificent.
