The Questors presentA Priest in the Family & The Bear
Colm Tóibín & Anton ChekhovA double bill
A Priest in the Family
Adapted by Tony Rushforth from a short story by Colm Tóibín
‘Years ago all the old women spent their lives praying. Now, we get our hair done and play bridge and go to Dublin on the free travel, and we say what we like.'
Molly O’Neill, widow, mother and grandmother is proud of her life and her family, especially her son Frank, a priest. But in a small Irish town, gossip is rife. Why does everyone keep asking how she is? Why is everyone staring?
Colm Tóibín has written ten novels, two volumes of short stories of which A Priest in the Family is one. He has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize.
The Bear
By Brian Friel after Anton Chekhov'He’s a bear, a brute, a bully… He’s exactly what she needs.'
Elena Ivanova Popova has shut herself away from the world in retaliatory grief. And then Gregory Stepanovitch Smirnov bursts into her life. He is an insolent, ill-mannered brute and a creditor of her late husband. She is stubborn.
An “amorous joke” from Anton Chekhov, playwright and short story writer, one of Russia’s great observers of humanity’s foibles, adapted by Brian Friel – the “Irish Chekhov”.
Suitable for ages 12+
Running time: approximately 1 hours 45 mins (plus a 20 minute interval between the plays)
