Have you ever walked previous a homeless individual begging on the street and turned your head away pretending to not see them? If we’re sincere, most of us have. And when Derry playwright Brian Foster did so, the sense of guilt he felt afterwards compelled him to write down his most profitable play, MYRA’S STORY.
He mentioned: ‘It happened some years back on a freezing cold December day when I was down in Dublin on business. Spotting a homeless woman ahead of me begging on Ha’penny Bridge as I crossed over, I hurried previous, pretending to speak into my cell. I shot her a fast look as she hunkered low holding out a plastic cup. She was possibly mid-forties, with excessive cheek-bones and piercing inexperienced eyes. Her bruised face nonetheless held traces of a previous magnificence.
“Back within the consolation of Wynn’s Hotel, I couldn’t assist however marvel… who was she? What had life thrown at her that had prompted her to finish up like that? I returned to the bridge inside the hour, hoping to clear my conscience with a donation. But she was gone. All that remained as proof of her existence was her empty plastic begging cup mendacity on the grubby piece of cardboard on which she’d squatted.
“Back home in Derry, I could not get that tragic lady’s face out of my head. It haunted me for days, for weeks, until finally the sense of guilt made me sit down and begin writing. A month later I had completed the first draft of Myra’s Story. The original story I set in my native Derry, then later re-wrote it with a Dublin setting.”
The story depicts a day within the lifetime of middle-aged homeless alcoholic, Myra McLaughlin, residing tough on the streets of Dublin. As she begs from passers-by she relives her backstory. Playing all of the bigger than life Dublin characters, female and male, performing out all of the hilarious, harrowing and in the end coronary heart breaking twists and turns of life which have taken her to alcoholism and destitution. Audiences snigger and cry (usually on the identical time) as Myra sweeps them alongside on a rollercoaster of feelings. Hers is the face we so usually flip away from in public, pretending to not see.
With the sensible Dublin actor Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley giving astonishing performances, MYRA’S STORY has been an exceptional success wherever it performs, with standing ovations in venues seating as much as 1500 individuals, together with 4 sellout Edinburgh Fringes and a implausible London West End run.
Why is the play so profitable? Because, though set in Dublin, the story might happen in any city, in any metropolis, worldwide. The twin evils of homelessness and dependancy being common, viewers members wherever can relate to the broken character they see up on stage. Myra is their sister, their brother, their mom their father. Myra is any one in every of them … any one in every of US … as she says within the play, ‘there but for the grace of God.’
Show Information
Myra’s Story
twenty second – twenty seventh April 2025
Venue Information
The Pavilion Theatre,
Glasgow
121 Renfield St
GLASGOW G2 3AX
For enquiries and ticket purchases, please name the Box Office on 0141 332 1846.
Box Office is open from 10am each day.
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